The Long Road Home
by ranma15177301291
Summary: Hiko's past is about to catch up with him. Kenshin and Kaoru have to catch each other. When will eveyone stop falling?
1. Default Chapter

Please understand that this is a SPOILER FILLED story. If you don't want to know what happens at the end of Rurouni Kenshin...Don't read this story. That means that anything that happened along the way to get to the end is in here too. I left nothing out. Mostly because Kenshin gives us a small recap of the series through his own eyes. Fun stuff. I am reposting a reposting because I found even more stuff to tweak out. Missed spelling moments, a few spell check changed words. Have = Gave is my favorite so far. And I added a bit here and there to add some spice to my writing. Why they let me out of the special person ward to do this...I have no idea.  
  
is thought   
  
" is spoken "  
  
Have bundles of fun!  
  
The Long Road Home  
  
A Rurouni Kenshin Fiction  
  
Ranma151773012  
  
She had been sweet. Sweet like the sake in the spring. She had hair like midnight on the longest night of the year and skin as soft as the finest silk. Her eyes were of the darkest brown so deep and savoring they reflected the world in a glance. They had shared so much back in the past, but he hadn't seen her in years, and he never would again. "How is it possible for life to go on without her sweet innocence in the world? Or maybe she wasn't all of those things I remember. It was a long time ago." Hiko Seijuro the thirteenth master of Hiten Mitsurugi shouldered his traveling pack and left the solitude of his mountain for the second time that year.  
  
Kenshin lay in the room he had begun to call his own about one year ago. He was almost completely healed from his fight with Enishi, but his Jinchuu still left pain etched on Kenshin's soul that no amount of time might heal. Physical scars he could deal with, heavens knew that he had enough of them. The scars were like a shroud covering and reminding him of darker times. A past that he had left behind and yet a past that would follow him to the end of his own life. A life that would be forever spent finding ways to repent for the lives that he himself had ended. Almost every day since the end of the Bakamatsu no Doran was a penance for the slaughter in his past. Ten long years that somehow still lived in the shadow of six. He was tired, weary beyond his twenty-seven years, when he had stumbled into the streets of Tokyo.  
  
Then, somehow in the twilight almost one year ago he had walked around the corner of a darkened deserted alley to stand in the warmth of the sun. Kamiya, Kaoru had challenged him in the street. Well she didn't exactly challenge me, but certainly she challenged who she thought was "Battousai". She had no idea how right she actually was.Gohei had been killing men and women on the streets of Tokyo in cold blood. Using his own violent past to shed more unnecessary blood. Why were the crazy ones always first in line to claim to be him? But somehow this decidedly awful situation had led to the odd meeting between himself and Kaoru, something that he was thankful for. When he'd saved her he could only think of how strange it was to see such a stunning, and as he'd quickly learned, opinionated young woman dressed as a man and attacking the obviously larger stronger Gohei with her wooden sword.  
  
When Kenshin first came to the Kamiya dojo he had decided that his next destination would be somewhere far away; Okinawa perhaps. Somewhere as far away from this girl as possible so that he could remain a wanderer. Kaoru was a ball of energy that stirred a certain longing in his heart; the rundown dojo could be the home he'd been denied so long. To find family, friends, and all of the warmth of home after so long seemed like an impossible dream. Turning his back on the beautiful young kendoist would have been hard, but not impossible in the beginning. He, Hitokiri Battousai, didn't deserve such light outshining his darkness. Just as he was going to actually follow his instincts and leave the dojo her loneliness bared itself to him completely. "I don't want the hitokiri to stay I want the rurouni..." Kaoru spoke aloud. It wasn't only her voice that spoke. Her heart had spoken again, plain as day; "Don't go, you may be my last hope," and he found that he couldn't say no. There was nothing left of his resolve, and her smile sealed his fate. From that day forward he wanted to be someone who made her smile. Everything Kaoru did was awash in laughter and understanding. Everyone she touched seemed to hold on for dear life. How could someone have so much joy and still be so lonely? When the loneliness and sorrow flashed in her eyes it was almost unbearable for Kenshin to see. It had also been the first time she'd hauled off and punched him. He shook his head and laughed in the moonlight. It wasn't that he couldn't avoid her outbursts and rages. It was just funny, mostly because she knew for certain who he was and still didn't hold herself back from him. "You are just Kenshin to me." she had said once, and it was in there in her heart, for all to see.  
  
He had ended his wandering that day, and he wouldn't wander again until the cherry blossoms fell from the trees. Each day had brought new joy, and it made Kenshin wonder at how long he'd been untouched by such a strong emotion. Soon after the day he joined Kaoru at the dojo Yahiko walked into their lives. He became Kaoru's only student, someone to teach in the way of her budo since Gohei had driven away her remaining students. However Yahiko also ended up in the role of a caring if not slightly annoying little brother. It was another reminder to Kenshin what home and family were like. Yahiko somehow maintained his childish innocence despite his desire to be strong, and pride was his strongest attribute. Kenshin realized that Yahiko had been uncharacteristically silent lately and he wondered if he should just stop being such a coward and ask him what was wrong. He didn't know much about people and their emotions, but Yahiko was not what you would call a "melancholic" individual. It was easy to guess that there was something wrong. It had been this way since the incident at Enishi's island, and Kenshin himself still owed much to Yahiko for helping him. In the time after Gohei, Kaoru's student breathed life into the run down dojo and Kenshin had watched as her loneliness began to ebb away. He didn't want things to break down now that they'd found a measure of peace. Back then Kenshin's heart had started to lose its desire to wander and it was due in part to the young man that had so much desire, it helped to put his own life into perspective. His penance was always on his mind, but he had only been in the Kamiya compound a month before the need to protect was projecting itself, no matter how he tried to deny it, ever more on a certain long-haired kendo instructor.  
  
Sanosuke had been the next to arrive into their lives. The relationship changing from warrior's respect, to contracted enemies, and at last to friends. Sano was full of pain and regret and not a little anger. His anger was what drove him though. Their first fight had been spectacular to say the least. Kenshin would go on to fight Sano not once but twice, both times in the name of the Sekiho-tai. He wondered sometimes if either Sano or himself would ever truly let go of their past. He closed his eyes and he could feel Sano clutched against him, unconscious. In that moment he knew that he had found someone he could call brother if only in his mind. Someone that would forgive him no matter what had happened between them. Because if he could beat the street fighter bloody and still have his friendship then nothing could separate them. Sano was full of pride and fiercely protective of his new family. It was as if the three had all been fated to find one another, to find a second chance at life in this new era in the Kamiya dojo.  
  
One after another people walked into their lives: Megumi, Tae, Tsubame, Jineh, Raijuta, Aoshi, and the Oniwabanshu to name but a few of his new acquaintances. Some of the people they met along the way were good and some were not. Most of them had come seeking Kenshin specifically and each with their own agenda. Yamagata had searched for him in good faith, and Jineh had simply been sick in the head, it was Saitoh who had come to enlist the help of the long dead hitokiri. Kenshin thought he had left and buried the Battousai ten years before. Yet he could not seem to deny that part of him, and Batousai had stepped up to the challenge with what could only be described as killing zeal. Even now Kenshin found himself very uncomfortable with the picture that he must have painted that night. They must have been shocked, maybe even frightened of what he had become. But if his new family had any lingering doubts they never voiced them. They were protective and stood beside him stubbornly in the face of the Meji government. They wouldn't give him up. That's why he loved them, and that is why he had decided to leave. It had nearly killed his spirit to do so. But, Shishio had to be stopped. It might have cost him his life...moreover his happiness. His decision was made for him when Soujiro assassinated Okubo.  
  
Kenshin had, in the beginning, thought about leaving a note to say goodbye. Anything to spare himself the additional pain of seeing Kaoru cry. But no, he had to endure it because he deserved to take her torment with him. He had caused her pain and he would have to live with her feelings. He had hoped it would be easier simply because he would see her anger, sadness, and feelings of betrayal. Feelings that would remind him that he could only bring tragedy to others. Beside that...He had to see her one last time. If he had died fighting this new threat to Japan he wanted her image burned into his soul. However it wasn't her righteous indignation that Kenshin had been keenly aware of that night. There among the fireflies she had begged him not to go. "Kenshin is Kenshin." There was only the loneliness there in the night alongside him. Just the loneliness that asked "Why? I thought that we were happy together..." He had planned to say thank you and leave. One foot placed firmly in front of the other on the long cold road, but his body all but betrayed him. He looked into her blue eyes and gathered her indecently into his embrace. Before he could stop himself his arms were around her, holding her as close as he dared. Not a sisterly hug, an embrace set-aside for lovers. He'd let his eyes fall closed and allowed himself to simply feel. Feel the moment, and to speculate on the "what might have been". This was the moment that he grafted to his soul. Warm...She had been so warm. It was as if she were made for him. Each curve was fit to him perfectly. Here alone in his room if he closed his eyes he could still feel her there, and he couldn't help the small shudder that went through him. Kaoru smelled like the warm sweet spring air. Tomoe had been the sensual scent of white plum...Kaoru was the untamable spring, and it was so like her. That was the moment he took with him even to today. Thinking back to that moment, if he hadn't let go right at the moment he did, he would never have found the strength again. Thinking back he wondered at how he had done it. But he had let go, each step bringing him inexorably further away from her. He'd heard the rustle of cloth and his own name whispered through tears. "Kyoto was no place for my family" he said aloud as if the moment were upon him once more. That was what I said to myself, over and over in my head like a sutra that night.Batousai had been summoned up from out of the shadows. His dark past was catching up once again, and he couldn't let another innocent person die for him. Never again.  
  
His journey to Kyoto had brought him once again into the presence of the Oniwabanshu. Kenshin met Misao on the road to Kyoto and became, against his better judgement, fast friends with the over kinetic young woman. The Oniwabanshu in Kyoto were rebuilding their lives in the new era. Kenshin chuckled to himself as he thought about the irony of his odd relationship with the ninja clan. They were, he hoped, forever on the same side. It was at this moment that Kenshin realized that the Oniwabanshu had been there for almost every major turning point in his life so far. Kenshin flinched as he thought of the assasin sent to kill him the night he'd taken Tomoe to the inn. He wondered what his name might have been, and what he had been to the people that he considered his friends now. Maybe he would write to Okina tomorrow and ask. How did one ask something like that in a letter and be delicate? Especially considering he'd cut the man literally in half...Maybe he would simply have to wait it out and ask when they were together. Misao and what was left of the once prominent ninja protectors of edo castle lived together in Kyoto and more specifically the Aoiya. Kenshin had asked Okina to find his master Hiko and they had also endeavored to find Shaku. He had snapped his reverse blade sword against Soujiro the Tenken and needed to repair it. Shaku was the maker of his Sakabatou. Unfortunately the elder had passed away and left his son to take over the business. But Shaku would not condone fighting and had refused to fix the sword. It was just after their meeting that Shaku's son Iori was captured by Cho the sword collector. Kenshin had left the Aoiya immediately to fight despite his complete lack of a sword when he'd been told the little boy's fate. Jiya, Misao and Shaku had followed him up to the shrine that Cho had taken the young hostage. Shaku finally gave him the last sword of his father after he'd seen Kenshin fighting so hard and, risking his life to save his son Iori. The sword had been a sakabatou...but he'd had no way of knowing it then. He had nearly lost himself to Batousai once again in his rage against Cho the sword collector. He closed his eyes and tried to remember the exact feelings he'd had the moment Cho had fallen beneath his sword. They were mixed if the truth were to be told. "He deserved it!" the battousai in his mind had screamed. The rurouni fell to his knees and cried out "WHY?". And the part that was inexorably Kenshin, and just Kenshin said, "You...will always make the bloody rain fall." He felt a shiver as he heard himself repeat the line that had changed his life. He looked up at the moon and said it aloud. "You make the bloody rain fall." He shook in the darkness. Kaoru would have a fit if she knew he were doing this to himself, so he let his thoughts go beyond the moment with Cho.  
  
It was after this, his third slip in his losing battle against becoming Battousai once more, that the Oniwabanshu information network brought him news of his shisho. Hiko Sejirou, Master of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, the dragon himself, waiting atop a mountain for the world to pass him by. Little did he know, at the very moment he left for Hiko's cabin another ragtag pair of fighters had come into town. He'd found himself only slightly shocked that during one of his shishou's more prolific rants about his inadequacies as a student Misao, Yahiko, and Kaoru herself had burst in to argue his side. Actually Kaoru hadn't said a thing. Once again Kenshin's feelings warred within him. How dare she follow him here to this place of danger and death! Why was she here? Shishio was easily killing off guarded statesmen and she, a mere kenjutsu instructor, would hardly be an obstacle if a seasoned hitokiri with an army of crazed revolutionaries decided to kill her. And yet her closeness had been a thing of wonder to him. He wanted very much to hold her close and kiss her silly, or to hold her close and slap her silly so he opted for neither and simply went to the well. "Are you angry that I am here?" She had asked. "Half," He had responded back. It was the best he could have done for her at that moment. I imagine that Kaoru was just as confused as I was. Well considering she did travel from Tokyo to Kyoto I can imagine that she might not be quite as confused as I am...Kenshin smiled at that thought. Perhaps there might be room for such a stained man in someone's heart after all. I owe all three of them so much...If they hadn't arrived I believe that Shisho wouldn't have taught me at all. Their devotion to me is what earned the ougi...both from Shisho and for myself. Because it is for all of them that I wish to live the most. I don't fear death...But I don't want to die. I want to live so that I can see them. I want to see the kind of man that Yahiko will become. I want to see the fine doctor Megumi-sensei will be. I want to see Sano become a man independent of the memories his dark childhood brought him. I want to see Kaoru...Kenshin smiled. I just want to see Kaoru.  
  
The fight with Shishio and his men was long and hard. It was as if he had put out a call for the strongest and most unhinged men in Japan. Somehow he fought his way through. Each opponent stronger and more misguided than the last. Sanosuke was at his side through it all proving that he was one of the truest friends that Kenshin had ever made. Saitoh was also there beside him to preserve the peace, to destroy evil instantly, as was his lot. Bitterest of rivals brought together in the name of Japan and her people. Fitting for the Meji. He somehow defeated Soujiro and saved Aoshi's soul as best he could from taking a final step in the wrong direction. He had promised Misao that he would bring Aoshi back to the Aoiya. Kenshin had seen for himself the recent changes in the man Aoshi was becoming. His soul was finding peace. Kenshin also knew how much Shinomori had meant to Misao. He didn't want Misao to lose one of her most important people. Kenshin wondered how they were doing. Misao had been so happy before they had left the dojo just recently. He hoped that Aoshi could one day plainly see the smiles that were meant only for him. It might help him on his new journey to realize that the comrades of old stood beside him when she smiled.  
  
Kenshin had nearly failed to win against Shishio in the end, but Kaoru, or her image, had called to him. He found that after their talk on the roof of the Aoiya he couldn't fail her. He had said that he would go back to Tokyo. Kenshin smiled broadly. Perhaps I should have specified the condition I would return in. It seemed the kami helped me to make my promise come true. Maybe I should have said. "I promise to come back, and without even a scratch on me..."Unfortunately he had gotten a little more than a scratch. When the fight was finally over Kenshin had barely won, and he had fallen instatly into a deep dreamless sleep. It would be a while before he woke. Even longer before he healed. A month had passed before they returned home once more. Return home they did though, and it felt wonderful. Home, home, home. No matter how many times he heard it, it would never get old. He hadn't had a true home since he'd left Hiko so long ago. Sixteen years was a long time to be displaced. When he looked at Kaoru's smile he knew that he'd truly found a place his heart could call home. "Welcome home, Kenshin." Kaoru had extended her hand to him in offering a home. He couldn't help but take her hand. "I'm home." And a true smile came to his lips for the first time since he'd left his family behind.  
  
"I would have been willing to stop my journeys right then." The words were barely from his lips before a frown drew over them, and he curled into the covering that lay over himself and his futon to stave away the cold that gripped his heart. Enishi. An angry boy turned desperate and bitter man. He was full of hate and rage for what and who Kenshin had once been. Someone began to attack people that Kenshin cared for, and when he met the culprit at last Kenshin knew that it was time to tell the true story of his past. He had come back from his first meeting with Enishi dripping blood. He had also completely blown Kaoru off. He cringed slightly now that he thought about it. But the story was going to be a leap of faith on his part, and he had needed to summon a lot of courage. It was his cowardice that had made him ignore her like that. When he began his story it was only natural that he begin with the moment that he had left Hiko and continued telling his story until the last fight of the Bakamatsu. He told them about Enishi. He told them about Tomoe. "Tomoe." Kenshin whispered her name as he turned down his blanket and slid from the covering to slide open the shoji and look at the stars. "I wonder if we could have even been truly happy...I would've liked to try. Maybe you could have saved Enishi from himself. He did truly love you." Kenshin whispered to the stars.  
  
Her heart had changed so much in their short time together. The winter that year had been so cold and bitter. Yet somehow it was as if a sort of spring had entered Tomoe's heart. She had brought him meaning when life had slowly all but taken his. They had only consummated their marriage one time, as fate would have it right before her death. But for that night their souls had joined and Tomoe had seemed so young, innocent, and hopeful. He wished he had known what she was hiding...They could have fought together. One day perhaps she could have forgiven him for all of his sins, or simply known that he hadn't killed Akira, her fiancee, for his own pleasure. When Kenshin had finished the story his friends were in shock. It was quiet in the dojo for some time after his yarn had come to a suitable end. Kenshin searched the eyes of his friends for hatred...there was none. Only the unwavering belief that he was who he was, and there was nothing anyone could say that could make him less worthy of the trust they had built. He searched Kaoru's face for repugnance but found only sadness, perhaps pity, and something he couldn't name. He only prayed they wouldn't reject him, and the Kenshingumi, it seemed, would never let him down.  
  
Enishi had planed his "earthly justice" well. Each person he touched was hurt in some way or another. Yet right before Enishi was expected to come to the dojo Kaoru had asked him to stay with her. His heart warmed at the memory. I wanted nothing more.Kenshin hung his head and returned to his musings. He found her "body" in the dojo and his mind had whirled. It wasn't possible. The sweet wonderful kinetic girl that he'd promised to stay with...Had just left him. The cross-scar etched into her cheek bled as her eyes stared gaping and surprised at the world. To Kenshin it was an accusation. I wasn't fast enough...it would have killed her. In that I can never fail her again.He thought solemnly. Her body had been particularly horrifying. He was glad that Yahiko hadn't seen it. The body was tacked onto the dojo wall with Enishi's wattou straight through Kaoru's no longer beating heart. Kenshin's horror finally settled itself into grief. He would die with her. He had to die, there was nothing else on this earth to do. His soul wanted to give chase as his feet took him to Rakuninmura. He flinched at the memory. He had left so many people behind in that moment of selfishness, but it hadn't mattered at the time. Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu had failed him again. It was useless to save the ones he loved. When he finally had been brought out of the all consuming depression it was the combination of Tsubame's words and Tomoe's smile.  
  
He'd starved himself to the point of hallucination. It was the first thing he'd been aware of...Truly aware, since Kaoru's death. No she wasn't dead. If someone had told him that the spirit of his dead wife would come to him to tell him that he hadn't failed to protect Kaoru he would've thought they were insane. He grinned "Then again I think I was out of my mind....But thank you anyway Tomoe." Kenshin spoke aloud to the heavens.  
  
He had thrown off the chains of his depression...both literal and figurative, saved Yahiko, and then went on to get some sleep. For about a week he had slept and regained a piece of his strength. When he awoke once more he left with the small army they had amassed for the rescue. He'd almost been relieved to see Saitoh alive...almost. Well at least for Tokio's sake, whoever the woman might be. They had found themselves on an island. Aoshi, Sano, Saitoh, and Yahiko each faced an opponent while Kenshin waited for Enishi to arrive. Misao and Megumi waited by the boat. When Enishi appeared alone Kenshin's heart had sunk, but she came crashing through the brush a moment later, complaining in her usual way, and Kenshin was truly happy for the first time. Enishi told Kaoru that she would be killed if she stepped beyond the tree line and Kenshin had told her to wait where she was and he would come for her.  
  
The battle seemed to go on forever, and Kenshin knew that Enishi would not be defeated easily. In the end however it may have been Tomoe's memory that ended the bloody fight. Scores of wounds were bleeding heavily, old wounds not properly treated reopened, new wounds opened as Enishi swung his Wattou. Enishi refused to quit. That was of course when things went from bad to worse. One of Enishi's thugs pulled out a gun. Kenshin thought that history was going to repeat itself. He felt the first bullet bury itself in his shoulder, the pain exploded through his arm and he fought the cry that was trying to rip itself from his throat. Kaoru screamed...Ran...And somehow she put herself between the gun and himself. Her arms were stretched out in front of him and he knew that he would never be able to save her.  
  
Kenshin closed his eyes and ran his hands through his hair. He still couldn't believe what had happened next. Enishi stopped the man from hurting Kaoru. It made him wonder if he could have ever gone through with his threat from the beginning of the fight. Could he have killed Kaoru? Or was it just that she had been willing to throw herself in front of the gun in the same way that Tomoe had thrown herself in front of Kenshin? He neither wanted to think about it, nor did he really want to know. Either way the irony was not lost on him. The same situation had played itself out, but this time Enishi didn't have to just stand by and watch. He could stop it, and he did.  
  
The fight did eventually end. Kenshin had explained that Tomoe had given her smile to him, that he had finally made peace with his murdered wife. She wanted Kenshin's happiness, just as she would have wanted Enishi to be happy. At first it made Enishi very angry...but in the end Kenshin thought that he might have just begun to understand...Or maybe it was the ougi...Who knew. But soon after the conflict was over the fight went completely out of Kenshin himself. He waited for the ground to come up to meet him. "Oro" was all he'd been able to manage when Kaoru's strong arms caught him. The world dissolved into a haze that Kenshin even now didn't mind. He found more and more that he wanted to find the right way to tell Kaoru everything he was feeling. Why he hadn't done so yet weighed heavily in his mind. But it wasn't as if the moments kept presenting themselves. Kenshin wasn't good at personal relationships anyway, the very idea of attempting to approach Kaoru with his feelings was hard enough. The idea of approaching Kaoru with his feelings in front of her student...Impossible.  
  
Everything had gone quickly after that. Megumi returned to Aizu to pursue her future. Both to find her family, who sadly Kenshin believed to have passed from the world, and become a doctor in the area of her birth. Kenshin wondered at how calmly Sanosuke said goodbye. He had always been, at least in his own mind, quite dense when it came to people and their relationships. But Kenshin would have to have been blind, deaf, and dumb not to notice the affinity that the streetfighter had for the lady doctor. Kenshin actually had a lot of questions for Sano about now. Why can't he follow me around when I feel like I need him...Then again it might just be that it's the first time in a year that he hasn't in fact been around.Kenshin missed the streetfighter, because he had left the day after Megumi. Apparently when not being closely observed Sano goes directly to do the stupidest things he possibly can to anger the Meji government. This time it had something to do with his father. I didn't even know he had a father around until now.Kenshin shook his head in wonder. I hope it was worth it Sano. The rice doesn't run out as quickly, but we still miss you here at the dojo. I wonder if he will truly go to see the world.Kenshin for his part knew that they would all see Sano again. It was Sano's way.  
  
On a lighter note Saitoh crawled away to wherever it was that he crawled. Ignoring their final duel. Kenshin buried his anger that night. There was nothing else he could rationalize doing. He would never be Saitoh's friend, he would always be his rival. But there was nothing he could imagine worse than a government without someone there to pick away the parasites. And like him or not Saitoh was very loyal to Aku, Soku, Zan. Besides that, he had gone with them to rescue Kaoru. Despite his argument that he had gone to wrap up his case against Enishi, the arms dealer who had sold the ship to Shishio; Kenshin had a suspicion that it was in fact just a way to keep his distance from his rival and still help Kaoru. Maybe one day he would fight Saitoh again but life had allowed him this little peace, and so he took it without too many questions.  
  
Aoshi and Misao had left on the road for Kyoto. They were going to bring their departed friends home. Misao had almost begged Aoshi to stay at the Kamiya Dojo for a month until Aoshi alluded to their friends burried in the mountains. She had been ready for travel home to the Aoiya within the hour. They packed and left for Kyoto together. Kenshin wondered at the events of the past year...Winter was coming and with it the new year. He wondered at what could possibly happen to top this year's chaos and then decided peace and quiet would be the ultimate gift.  
  
Despite the fact that Kenshin was currently (What Kaoru considered to be) a healing invalid who had been specifically warned away from all sword activities he decided to make a round of the grounds at the dojo. It was quiet. Yahiko had gone to bed early and so evening practice with Kaoru had been canceled. Yahiko was still acting strangely around Kaoru and himself. In truth he understood how the young man felt. It must be like being around two recently animated ghosts...He resolved himself to talk with Yahiko the next day. He had been too repressive for too long. Kenshin was so absorbed in his musings unfortunately that he didn't notice the form watching the stars in front of him until it was too late.  
  
Kenshin was falling...he thought about his injured arm and tucked it immediately behind his back. Yes, this is going to hurthis mind said in monotone. Then he realized that he had tripped not over some random item in the yard but over a pair of feet. An unsuspecting body, not the ground was coming up to meet him! A body that had quickly in his mind identified itself as Kaoru shrieked.  
  
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyaaaaaa!"  
  
"Orooooooooo!!!"  
  
Kenshin threw out his arms and legs to catch himself inches away from the obstacle/stargazer. He allowed himself a momentary pat on the back for his agility and then noticed the extremely close proximity with the object of his evening's musings. He would be lying if he didn't admit the burn on his cheeks. I wonder if it's as red as my hair?His head supplied a suitable diversion to his situation. It was his body however that reminded him of his position as the adrenaline rush gave out. His arm gave a solid and sickening twinge and gave way.  
  
"Ouch!!!!"  
  
The left side of his body crashed down on Kaoru and the sentiment was dually noted. He rolled to the side cradling the angry limb wishing he could disappear. Out of the corner of his eye he could see where Kaoru was clutching her side and gasping for air. This was very embarrassing.  
  
"Kenshin! Are you okay?!?" Kaoru wheezed as she began to crawl to his side.  
  
"It's fine Kaoru-dono." Kenshin said as he attempted to seem like he didn't feel like his entire arm had just been cut off.  
  
It wasn't exactly a lie. He was just fine. The limb would eventually heal...Not if he continued pulling stunts like that...But it would heal.  
  
"Kenshin. Let me see it. That was the arm with the stiches wasn't it? I'm so sorry! I didn't think anyone would be out here and I ...Hey! Why are you up in the first place? You're supposed to be resting!"  
  
The last part was faintly shouted and a voice that was decidedly from inside the house reached him and from the resultant slow burn of Kaoru's cheeks he guess she heard him quite clearly too...  
  
"KEEP IT DOWN! I don't care what'cha do, just do it quietly! Some of us are trying to sleep..."  
  
Kaoru was covering her face but he could see the blush where her fingers didn't touch. He could feel the heat in his own cheeks.  
  
"Maa, maa Yahiko I'm sorry!" He said as he decided to take care of one embarrassment at a time  
  
Kenshin looked over at a Kaoru that had obviously begun to steam at her student's lack of tact in an already embarrassing situation. He decided to speak before she got up and chased him with her ever-present bokken.  
  
"Kaoru-dono I'm sorry to you as well. If I'd been paying any attention..."  
  
She was looking at him, but also avoiding his eyes directly. And she was looking up though a black forest of bangs.  
  
"It's okay Kenshin...I was being silly laying on the ground anyway. I'll just go."  
  
She was pivoting away to go but his arm reached out and grabbed her wrist. Damn...He thought. His body seemed to be working all by itself again. She turned toward him and she starred at the place where their hands touched.  
  
"No...Please it is I that should go. I have to check on the gate anyway...and..."  
  
Their eyes met and the moment started to play itself in the slowest speed Kenshin had ever experienced. His body wasn't listening to Rurouni logic. No matter how he tried to stop himself, he just got back the message from his brain that this was "a good idea". Kenshin felt his arms go around the young woman despite pain still biting into his left arm. Which he realized rather distractedly was now pressed into Kaoru's lower back. His right hand had somehow tangled itself in a mass of soft ebony which he also noticed he'd pulled free sometime between distracted message number one: "This is a good idea", and equally distracted message number two: "My left hand is pulling her dangerously close." She looked like a painted goddess. The moon reflected off of her body and cast her skin a delicate white, while the light of a lantern from Kaoru's room reflected off her hair in a golden cascade. Her eyes fluttered closed and her moist lips parted ever so slightly. My god...This is happening...I'm going to kiss her...His thoughts were going faster than the moment and he wondered what Kaoru must be thinking. I hope she doesn't mind. I've wanted to do this for so long.He was mere inches from his goal. They deserved this. This was their happy ending. Her lips looked so sweet and her cheeks were rosy. Two inches...One inch.  
  
"AAAhhhemm!"  
  
The voice was unmistakable...  
  
"Hiko-san!" Kaoru was disentangling herself from the shocked and slightly oro-fied student.  
  
It was like some kind of nightmare. Like he was some kind of child sneaking off with his lover and caught by a severe parent. He wanted to pass out. He wanted to scream. Mostly he wanted the hesitation back...He really wanted to kiss her.  
  
"I hope I didn't...interrupt anything." He was smiling like a devil. "I knocked for some time...I just decided to let myself in after it seemed no one would answer. I was slightly concerned that my stupid pupil had gotten himself into more trouble, it seems quite the opposite." He shot Kenshin a look that meant he'd never let him live it down. "Or maybe it was trouble...As I said I don't mean to intrude."  
  
Kaoru had seemed to gain some sort of mortified, yet still polite, piece of mind. "Hiko-san, please rest yourself. I'll go make tea." She bowed lowly to the man befre her. Kenshin wondered at the formality until he noticed her quickly straighten the ever so slightly messy obi and retrieving her hair ribbon. "Pardon me." She had gathered her wits well Kenshin thought.  
  
"Shishou...I thought you were going to stay on your mountain." Kenshin said in a manner that dripped with the disappointment he felt. His mind lolled at his newfound bad temper Did I just say that out loud?  
  
Hiko decided his stupid pupil had changed not a whit. Although it seemed that he'd finally taken to going after the girl...Kamiya...Kaoru...Kenshin needed someone like her. She had fire. Perhaps it would breath life into the slightly dead fish his deshi had become. He remembered the boy being quite passionate about things that he believed in. Being a wanderer had taken a bit of that...fire...from his student. How long would she wait for Kenshin was the real question. His baka deshi was so named for a very good reason. He laughed at the picture of his student and the girl leaping apart like school children caught doing something bad. It meant they were perfect for each other, because it was quite obvious that neither of them would make the first move. The two idiots would court each other forever.  
  
"Shisho...I thought you were going to stay on your mountain..." Kenshin wondered aloud. Speaking of his disrespectful pupil.  
  
"It's just wonderful to see you too Kenshin. I see that you have gained nothing in the way of manners. I think I remember teaching them to you. But you weren't very smart to begin with, and all of that training to fight Shishio must have finally made you brain dead." He let the words spill out languidly. Bust his chops a littlehe thought with a smile.  
  
"Shishou that's not what I meant and you know it." Kenshin was flustered.  
  
"Good." Hiko's face fell. The reason for his visit slammed back into his heart and mind. Hitomi. Kenshin's intimate moment another ice-cold reminder of how alone he'd been without her. "Perhaps we can discuss a few things over tea. I certainly didn't come here to spy on your sex life. Are you joining us?" He looked over at the still slightly tired young man. He'd been the real reason for the intrusion. Hiko had walked in seen the two and was going to turn on his heel and give Kenshin a night alone when he saw the girl's student walk out. The kid was probably rousted by all of the knocking. (At least someone had been!) The poor boy was staring at them like they were a horrible train wreck. He was sputtering even now at being spoken to, especially since Hiko wasn't about to accept anything less than an actual response. He decided to embarrass them both, since Kenshin and the boy looked like landed fish. "I figure we're all pretty parched after watching that scene huh?" The boy turned three shades of red nodded rigorously and ran for the kitchen. Kenshin although blushing profusely was used to his master's sharp tongue and could respond.  
  
"Shishou?" Kenshin seemed confused, an expected turn of events for his master.  
  
"I can't help it if you and the girl were putting on a floor show. I was just trying to monitor the ages of the spectators. He seemed like he had been turned to stone." Kenshin turned the color of his hair and looked down at the ground.  
  
"Thank you shishou. inside."  
  
Hiko threw up his hand and stopped Kenshin from stepping forward. "I met up with Shinomori and the weasel-girl on the way here. They were on their way home with a bag full of heads. That girl is strange Kenshin, however did you attach yourself to her?" Hiko rolled his eyes and continued. "On second thought don't tell me, I know you." Kenshin looked indignant. Good, it was better to ask him personal questions when he was off guard. If he was flustered he usually told the truth before he had time to come up with anything. "She was quite cheerful and I admit that it made me nervous, mostly because of the sack of heads I think. Either way they related a most interesting story to me. I will admit that Shinomori's account was less, what's the word I'm looking for? Exuberant." Hiko searched his student's eyes with his own knowing ones. "How are you?" Kenshin looked shocked at the change of conversation, and at his master's level of concern, but Hiko didn't want to give him time to back down so he kept pushing the conversation. "I know the whole story, so you might as well just say it."  
  
"I'm healing well. Megumi-sensei gave me a full check-up before she left, and she says that beside some soreness and the fact that I have to take it easy I'll be well in no time..." Kenshin was leaving something about his health out. Hiko could always tell when Kenshin was lying because he always got that tiny shrug in his shoulder when he left something out or lied.  
  
"Thank you for the medical report, but that isn't what I meant." Minus the biting remark Hiko felt that the statement had been heartfelt.  
  
"I know master...I just still don't know myself. To answer one way or another would be to lie." Kenshin spoke in earnest and Hiko accepted the answer he gave...for now. "We will speak of this later Kenshin."  
  
Sometime later and over tea the Kamiya girl seemed to regain her usual wit and he found himself bantering easily with Kenshin's...well...whatever she was to him. "I often find myself wondering the same thing Kamiya-san."  
  
"Perhaps if you stuck to the muscles you know work..." It was an excellent jibe. She was smiling and he couldn't help but flirt a bit, she was an adorable creature. She'd been quietly inserting herself into the conversation for the last two hours and more flamboyantly besides. Hiko knew exactly what Kenshin saw in this girl. It was too bad that he was going to embarrass her now by twisting her own words back on her.  
  
"I assure you my lady, everything is in working order." Hiko flashed the flustered Kaoru his best smile.  
  
Okay so that last remark was a bit over the top. Kenshin glared at him. "Mine! Keep off!" He might as well have said it out loud for the way his body language dripped with raw animal protection toward Kaoru. His ki was very angry, and tired, and awfully frustrated. Oh well...He thought.  
  
"I imagine that I should tell you why I've come. I can't just invade your interesting lives and not tell you why." If he could get himself through this his ego would be intact. "There was a woman..." Hiko got out four words before his idiot student interrupted him.  
  
"Hitomi-sensei?" Kenshin's eyes stared into his own for what seemed like forever.  
  
"Yes! Don't interrupt me!" Hiko glared down at the staring purple orbs. "I am attending her burial." The mood shifted immediately, and he found himself wondering how he could deviate the conversation back to a machismo contest with his obviously lacking student. "I can find somewhere else to lodge if it's beyond your means Kamiya-san." He needed to be polite and concentration on that one feat was keeping the other feelings carefully locked away.  
  
"No!" Kamiya and Kenshin blurted out at the same time. Hiko wondered at the pair. Frighteningly meant for each other.  
  
"I'll show you to a room shishou...If that's all right with Kaoru-dono?" Kenshin looked at her questioningly.  
  
"Of course Kenshin! I'll get some blankets..." She was already out the door.  
  
"Thank you for your hospitality." Hiko murmured. "Where did the boy go?" He looked around for Yahiko in a vain attempt to find him.  
  
"Ah, yes Yahiko. He left an hour ago. I imagine you didn't notice because you were too busy blatantly flirting with Kaoru-dono." The last words were almost forced through a polite smile.  
  
"Sorry...I can't help it if I'm irresistible." Hiko let the arrogance in his personality settle around himself like the mantle. At least Kenshin wasn't asking difficult questions.  
  
"Are you going to be okay? How did it happen? When?" Kenshin always knew just the right time to ask all the wrong questions.  
  
"I believe we'll talk later. The story is long, involved, and tiring." Hiko prayed that Kenshin would just listen to him and let it go for once.  
  
"Of course Shishou...whenever you desire to talk I will be here."  
  
With that a shoji popped open to a sparsely decorated room and Kenshin left him there in peace. It wasn't too long before Kamiya came with the blankets. He bowed his thanks for the blankets and the hospitality and she turned in for the night.  
  
"By the way Baka-deshi..." He knew that Kenshin was just waiting on the other side of the outside shogi doors. "It takes two people to flirt blatantly." Hiko chuckled to himself as Kenshin's ki flared up once again.  
  
Hey there. I got chapter one of "The Long Road Home" finished some time ago. I have worked on it very little since. But I am hoping to finish this "Longfic" in the best way I can. I hope that everyone understands. This is a repost since I can no longer access my old account. I did everything the people asked but it just hasn't worked. They suggested a new name. I took it. Well to be honest it's the same name, and they assure me it's the same account. But it isn't. Oh well.  
Top of Form 1 


	2. Chapter 2: Dreams and Nightmares

Okay, here is chapter 2. Hopefully this time it won't spell doom for my poor computer like it did last time. I am going to tweak this as well...but I don't think this ever saw the light of day as far as R&R went. I am looking forward to your questions and comments, since this is the first time anyone has seen this. The author bit is going to be short...since the chapter is sooooooooo long.

The Long Road Home

By: Ranma1517730129

Chapter 2

Kenshin awoke with the sun. He let the last traces of a dream slip through his fingers. It had been by all definitions, a great dream. It was one of those "if I weren't me" kind of dreams. When it started, the dream had been just another day: laundry, cooking, cleaning, the normal trappings of a Kamiya Dojo day for Kenshin. The night however had dissolved into something...unforgettable. In the dream he and Kaoru had been alone, and it had made all the difference. Kenshin began to consider a couple buckets of icy water from the well to soak himself to the skin with when he heard a creak of the boards in the hall, which was just as un-arousing. He heard the footfalls coming in a direct path toward his door that went on to stop inside his room; trying to give the illusion of sleep, Kenshin's mind was busy collecting what he could from the approaching footsteps. The amount of sound the person's steps made with each movement and the decidedly masculine strides the body took, they were making a mental picture of his would-be assailant. His mind rewound to the previous night. Hiko!his mind recalled, was in the house. About to open an eyelid to confirm his shishou's presence in his room, icy water rained down on him from above.

"ORORORORORORORORO!" Kenshin screamed and shivered and went straight for his sword. Hospitality be damned!Hospitality was something he could set aside if his shishou intended to treat him like he was thirteen again.

"I haven't gotten you like that since you were twelve. You're slipping Baka Deshi!" called out, as the hopping mad Rurouni pulled on his hakama. "See you outside." Hiko dodged Kenshin's well-thrown and sodden sleeping yukata. "Ooohh...testy!" Hiko ran from the doorway and Kenshin was alone again. His master was obviously in a better mood this morning. Wonderful, he's in a good mood so I get my ass kicked.Through his rage at being fully awakened in such a horrible manner after such an excellent dream, he smiled. This would be therapeutic.

"Fine shishou...we'll play it your way. But we'll still play by my rules." Kenshin bolted not for the door Hiko left through but through the shoji leading outside. The sun was bright in the early morning on this side of the house. Strategically it put Kenshin at a disadvantage for a few seconds, but even if Hiko was running at full speed he would never reach the opposite side of the house this quickly unless he ran straight through Kaoru's room. Hiko was many things, but he'd never been a pervert. Kenshin didn't, however, intend to stay on this side of the house for long. He was already running faster than he had in ages. When he reached the courtyard his mind focused completely on its destination_._Up.

The rurouni wondered what this would look like to the residents of the dojo. He leapt for the roof half-naked with his wet hair sticking to his back and shoulders with a curtain of usually unruly bangs plastered to his forehead and face. His sakabatou glinted in the morning sun, and he cursed the beacon giving away his position. Where are you shishou?His senses stretched to locate his shishou's ken-ki but he found nothing. Perhaps Hiko had just wanted to irritate him? The tiles on the roof were luxuriously warm against the slight chill of the late fall air. There!his mind yanked him back to reality. Kenshin ran silently and flipped gracefully with a half turn of his body to land in a ready stance facing Hiko and, to Kenshin's surprise, Yahiko.

"And so you see, that is what I meant about keeping your left guard up." Both Hiko and Yahiko were looking at the soaking wet Kenshin, but with drastically different expressions. Hiko was practically laughing. Yahiko was stunned. "Well I better show you, or you'll never learn properly." Hiko's sword was out before anyone, besides Kenshin, could have humanly seen it. "You remind me of all the times I threw your beaten carcass into the river, Kenshin. Shall I dump you into the well for old times sake?"

Kenshin drew his body into a tense coil. Hiko was already springing toward him and predicting his master's moves was difficult at the best of times. With my shoulder as it is I will have to compensate.Hiko was thankfully starting slow and they traded blow for blow in an athletic display of twists, spins, and flips that made Kenshin's still healing body protest in any manner of aches and a few piercing pains, but nothing he couldn't handle. The two men had been master and student for so long that Kenshin could still remember the way it felt to spar with Hiko despite the long separation between them. It was almost like a dance that he had learned and never quite forgotten. Kenshin wondered idly what life would be like when the dance was no longer achievable and felt a small ache of fear well up inside of him. "KENSHIN! CONCENTRATE!" Hiko growled and lunged forward.

This line of thought was distracting him too much and Hiko, noticing, was beginning to take advantage of his inattention. Kenshin felt his ground slipping. In two moves, Hiko would have the best of him. He took the moves away, two steps to the back and then a space-eating leap backwards. The ground Kenshin had lost was now regained but Kenshin needed to go forward, not backward, to defeat the master of his school. Both men were breathing heavily, but Hiko less than Kenshin. His master would always be that one unattainable step beyond Kenshin in his mind. Despite the questionable condition of his body at the moment it wouldn't have really mattered if Kenshin were in perfect shape. His small body was forever placing him behind Hiko in strength and skill. He had no time to ponder a way to make Hiko's size a weapon against him because he had already jumped cleanly over his head and crouched to strike again. Block to the right. Strike to upward block. Left...no Shishou went right!He didn't have time to block and he felt the metal slap his stomach. It would leave an angry welt. Kenshin cursed aloud and redoubled his efforts. He began to give and take ground hoping to lure Hiko into the squared off space between the dojo's high walls. There in the more isolated spaces of the dojo were not only good solid walls to deflect to, but trees to use to his advantage. Kenshin slid under Hiko's arm and gave his shishou a not so gentle smack on the ribs. Kenshin felt a small glow of pride well up.

Kenshin stopped moving as he sheathed the sakabatou with a triumphant inner smile. "Shishou." At the sound of Kenshin's voice both men rose to their standing height. Kenshin breathed heavily and tried to get himself ready in case another attack was coming.

"And that, is what happens when you forget your guard on the left." Hiko stared past the now glowering Kenshin into Yahiko's awe struck eyes. I'm ignored...Kenshin let his shoulders droop.

"Shishou, please tell me I wasn't woken with a bucket of icy water from the well just to give Yahiko a quick two second explanation on left guard." Kenshin spoke calmly. Maybe I can try my hand at looking menacing. No, it'll only scare Yahiko anyway.

"Actually no, I need you to show me around Tokyo. It's been years since I last saw this place." Hiko had become more relaxed and was now looking at Kenshin for a positive or negative response.

"Of course, Shishou!" Kenshin bowed lowly to signify the end of their match and his assentto showing his master around town. "I will attend to breakfast first. Oh yes, and I have to see how much laundry needs to be done, and of course I will find out Kaoru-dono's plans for the day. I must be here if she needs me later..." Kenshin trailed off his list when he looked up from his now chore delegated fingers. "WHAT?" Kenshin felt a mixture of embarrassment and anger color and contract his face.

"Well, I can see who wears the hakama in this relationship." Hiko was rolling his eyes. He heard a small laugh that must have been Yahiko, which was cut off suddenly with a small gasping noise. Kenshin swore Hiko was about to make a crack about his masculinity when the charming "hakama wearer" herself stepped around Hiko.

"You're supposed to be resting that shoulder!" Kenshin saw a bokken "appear" in her hand. It slammed its way down, down, down over his head. "And you're all wet! It's freezing out here! YOU'RE NAKED!!!" Despite being bludgeoned Kenshin was still standing albeit with a bit of a tilt. He noticed that Kaoru was turning as red as a cherry.

"Ororororoooo!" Kenshin felt himself losing the war once again. He stumbled around a bit and lost sight of the young woman and he finally came to a stumbling rest looking up at his master. Hiko wasn't saying anything at all and looked bemused. I will always let you win if you can stop even Hiko from effectively demoralizing me in the morning.He closed his eyes to stop the spinning momentarily. Suddenly his wet and cold shivering body was covered by warmth. His eyes were closed but he knew it was Kaoru who'd thrown her hanten around his shoulders and she still had her hands on him.

"Kenshin, by the way. You're looking more like a skinny brothel girl every day. Eat something." Hiko got Kenshin's attention back and he felt the glare in the squint of his eyes.

"You don't look like a girl to me." Kaoru whispered faintly into his ear, and he couldn't help but smile in spite of himself. She was blushing very, very red now, and when their eyes met she looked away quickly but had not yet removed her hands from his shoulders.

"Call me when breakfast is ready Baka-deshi." Hiko couldn't even seem to break his happy mood.

"Kenshin..." Yahiko did. Kenshin went from oro-fied to serious in seconds. Kaoru let go of him and he felt the cool autumn air blow against his still dripping chest, which was still exposed to the open air despite the jacket over his shoulders. He was missing Kaoru's hands all the more because when she was holding him his body seemed to be warm all over...and it was not simply embarrassment. He could more than admit that...at least to himself. Now however, was not a time to think on such things; Kenshin needed to speak with Yahiko. There was now two months of time built up since they had saved Kaoru, and they had not spoken even once about it in all that time. There was a lot to say. Unfortunately, Kenshin had no idea where to begin a conversation like this. As unoriginal as it may seem...perhaps "I'm sorry" will be a good beginning.Kenshin walked beyond Yahiko into the building and the boy was massaging a bump on his head.

"Yahiko, will you join me in the kitchen? There is much we must discuss." Kenshin waited for him to nod and the young man fell into step behind him.

"Kenshin...maybe you should get dressed first." Yahiko suggested in a small voice that still held a little awe in it despite the disrespectful tone.

"Oro..."

Kenshin looked over at Yahiko while his hands began to wash the vegetables. They had only stopped by his room long enough for him to get dressed...but that had happened in complete silence. It was as if neither side were sure how to begin. He was almost surprised when the boy began to rinse the rice but felt a slow smile insinuate itself across his face.

"Kenshin...If this is about the garden being torn up I swear I didn't do it...see after I woke up at Megumi's clinic..." Yahiko surprised him twice by being the first to speak. It seems that I am not the only one looking for closure.

Kenshin interrupted him. "I know Yahiko, the garden was my fault." Yahiko looked at him as if he'd grown a second head. "It is I who needs to apologize, Yahiko. I failed you. I failed Kaoru. I failed myself most of all. I should have seen through such a ridiculous scam. You have every right to feel that I have let you down and you have every right to be angry." Kenshin bowed to Yahiko but the Tokyo Samurai's hands stopped scrubbing the rice and clenched tightly around the little white grains.

"No!" Yahiko looked at him with anger flashing in his eyes as he shook his hands free of the rice. "If you failed, Kaoru would be dead. I would be alone. ALONE!" The boy slammed the rinsed rice bucket down. "I had to believe in something, through the whole mess. I had to believe!" The boy shook his head and glared defiantly at Kenshin. "Don't apologize to me. I never gave up! Even when I watched them put her in the ground; I knew...I knew that she would never give up on me." Kenshin was startled at what Yahiko was saying. He watched what I could not...and still he believed in her.

"That's why I kept bothering you." Yahiko's eyes were watering and he scrubbed at them mercilessly with his sleeve. "You maybe lost a little faith...but you got it back. Everyone gets tired, but you didn't give up." Kenshin tried to imagine being in Yahiko's place, the anger and resentment of being forced to stand in Kenshin and Sano's position while they did little more than wallow in grief and anger. I don't know how to make this easier for you Yahiko. I have already done so much to hurt you. Perhaps it can't be any easier...and maybe you have grown beyond the need of that.Yahiko looked up with a defeated look and said again, "Everyone gets tired."

Kenshin nodded his head to agree, but he couldn't help feeling a crushing weight in his chest on hearing Yahiko talk about his boundless faith. "I don't deserve your faith. I didn't..." Yahiko threw out his arm in a negating gesture.

"Leave it in the past. I want to talk about it, but I don't want to talk about it..." Kenshin couldn't help but understand the sentiment. Yahiko put his hands down and sighed. "If we want to lay blame I could start a long time ago with a lot of people that deserve my hatred more than you do. Especially considering that you did save me." Yahiko turned away. "I wanted to be angry and hate you...I thought it would be easier if I did." Kenshin watched as he clenched his fists at his side and held back against the urge to touch his shoulder. The tension was over as quickly as it had begun and the hands that had been clenched fell open. "I couldn't do it. Actually the only person I might still be pissed at is Sano, and I don't think it'll last for as long as he's gone, so it's really nothing to worry about. I'll tell you if I'm still angry three or four years from now. I don't want to live like that though. I saw Enishi...and if that's what holding hate in your heart is like, I don't want it. No matter what, just promise me Kenshin...promise you won't leave me like that again." He turned around and Kenshin was startled to see that he actually had tears staining his cheeks. Yahiko immediately looked at the floor.

He had looked at Kenshin with eyes that were still angry and maybe betrayed, but they were begging him for solace. They were begging him not like the Tokyo samurai he claimed to be, but like a ten-year-old boy. A little too pained, a little too vulnerable. Kenshin wasn't really sure what to do next. What could he possibly say? Everything he'd wanted to say had become trivial in the wake of what Yahiko was saying. He dropped the radish, walked directly toward him with his head bowed and hugged the boy close to him. They stayed that way for a few minutes and Kenshin felt all the tension slowly flowing out of the young man. He let him go and with resolve said, "I will always be at your side Yahiko. But I can't possibly make a promise like that. I wish I could, because I do want to stand with you always." The boy nodded his head and rubbed one more time at his eyes to clear them before he looked up again. There is going to be a day when you have to stand, alone, and fight. I hope you take me with you in your spirit that day. I want to be worthy of that.

"Please Yahiko, at least accept my apology for my lack of belief. I was too far gone in my sorrow to see what you could see all along, and I hurt you. I want to help you. I want to regain your trust because that is something that I owe you." Yahiko and Kenshin stood in silence both feeling a bit more at peace for what was now truly left in the past.

"Kenshin, I want to say that everything is fine, but it's going to be a while...you know?" He looked to the side and cleaned out his ear with his pinkie finger, one of Yahiko's nervous habits. "Besides, Kaoru doesn't even know everything about what happened yet does she?" Yahiko seemed to be asking him and Kenshin shook his head "no". "I don't know what to say around her anymore. It's never going to be the same." Yahiko hung his head and sighed deeply.

"I feel like I should just try to go back to the way it was but I feel like I should be treating her differently. I got her back." Kenshin looked at Yahiko in confusion. "I used to make these lists...of all of the things I would do better if I got my parents back." The young man looked confused and started to pace the floor a bit. "I never got them back...but I got Kaoru back. Finally, after losing everything I got something back, and I feel like I should make sure she knows I'm grateful...But, I've just been avoiding her instead so I don't have to."

Yahiko got a far away look in his eyes and scuffed his toe against the floor. Kenshin, sensing that the boy was uncomfortable in the direction their conversation was heading, broke in; "Time has a way of healing things. Kaoru should be told what transpired in her absence. It's not fair to assume that she can't handle the information. I can tell her alone, I won't make you..."

"I want to. Maybe later tonight, or tomorrow. You should talk to her first though. I wouldn't know where to start." Yahiko blurted out over Kenshin's words. They nodded in agreement.

"That would be fine. Yahiko, I'm sorry. It won't be long now before things are back to normal. Especially when we're all able to communicate again. We do need to talk, I think we should all agree with that since we've all been treading so lightly around one another, and it's starting to take its toll. I have an idea that might work out if I can get Kaoru to agree to it..." Kenshin bit down on his lip in a frustrated manner. If I could only get her alone for five seconds that is...

"Things haven't been normal since I tried to mug you on that bridge." Yahiko smiled a warning and pointed at Kenshin. "Well, whatever, but don't tell anybody I cried and hugged you or I'll bury you back where I found you in that hovel and no one will be bringing your sorry butt back this time." With that he pushed away from their talk. "I'm gonna' skip breakfast and go see Tsubame and Tae over at the Akabeko. I promised that I would help out today. I can surprise them by showing up on time for a change."

Kenshin smiled and put up his hands; everything was going to be okay eventually. They both needed time. "I will bring shishou around this afternoon for lunch." Kenshin thought to himself There is more that needs to be said...but it can wait. I'm sure he's finished for now.

"Kenshin...ummm...What did, happen? To the garden?" It seemed like Yahiko was a little more than nervous to ask, so Kenshin decided that the best way to deal with it would be in an offhand manner.

"Aa, the garden. I was very angry, and there was no one to vent my anger on. There seems to be a strange reoccurring theme in my life with farming and disaster." Kenshin returned to his vegetable chopping and Yahiko set the fully cleansed rice on the table.

"There's some deep tragic meaningful "Buddha and Kami know" kind of symbolism to all this isn't there?" Yahiko didn't wait for an explanation, which in Kenshin's mind was for the best since he didn't intend to say anything more. "See ya' Kenshin." He slid open the door and was gone even faster than Kenshin thought possible for the boy.

The revelations of Yahiko's talk were mulling about in Kenshin's head; the boy was still angry but now Kenshin had a better idea of what was going through his mind. I guess that I have to be careful of what I say...He needs someone to tell him that something like that will never happen again. I can't though, especially now that my body is deteriorating so that I won't be able to use the Hiten Mitsurugi. Someone may come for me...and they might win.Kenshin let his thoughts carry him through the rest of making breakfast.

"He cares for you greatly." Kamiya was practically glowing with embarrassment, either from Kenshin's half nudity or the closeness from a few minutes before, Hiko couldn't tell. She seemed to light on fire when he said the word "cares", but Kenshin's shishou was never one to mince words. "I don't know what someone as lovely as you would see in such a...small...man." Hiko remembered the way they had responded in unison the night before and decided getting the girl's ire up would be similar to teasing Kenshin. All I have to do is insult her a little. No use going over the top.

Kaoru immediately took the bait and whirled around on Kenshin's teacher. "Kenshin is a wonderful man! He's smart! And caring! And he doesn't have an ego problem like some other swordsmen I could name!"

Hiko smiled and let a small chuckle escape his lips. Yep. Just like my baka-deshi.He paused before he spoke again. "Why don't you tell him?" Hiko watched the anger drain away leaving embarrassment and the realization of his trap. "Ah. I see you would compliment the moron well. You would have to be the brains of the operation." He let the words sting for only a second before he plunged forward. "All insults and fun aside Kamiya..." Here she gave him an annoyed look that he decided to thoroughly ignore. "You are what he needs. Don't hide from it. You'll only cause yourself pain. If you wait for him to make all of the first moves out of fear neither of you will get to the fun stuff until you're aged." She blushed a lovely shade of red that Hiko admired on her before moving on. "Kenshin is shy and he has pain that holds him back." She was looking at him intently now and as he started to walk Kaoru fell into step next to him.

"Do you know of his past?" She nodded her head yes, and then seemed to think better of it.

"I know a little. I know that there is a lot that he still hasn't worked through. I want to know more...but I want him to tell me himself." Her words were confident, as if she expected this information any day. This is the same confidence that led her to the mountain last year.Hiko thought. It's like she's without hesitation.

With that he shook his head and smiled, continuing his questions, "Do you know what happened here while you were gone?" Kaoru shook her head "no".

"I don't know...At first we were all so busy. Then I realized everyone was watching me. They wouldn't say why, they wouldn't tell me when I asked. So far I haven't felt comfortable asking Yahiko. He looks so haunted sometimes it chills my blood. I asked Megumi and she told me to ask Kenshin. I couldn't trouble him though...Sometimes he looks worse than Yahiko...and he's still healing..." Kaoru stopped walking and let the words trail off.

"And he hasn't turned forty yet, and the moon hasn't turned green...Kamiya there will always be excuses to hide behind. When the old one runs out a new one will take its place. Ask him, ask him about all of it...perhaps it will set you both free." Hiko was about to continue when she threw her arms around his, and hugged him. At first he stood still as a rail, but slowly his hands came up to return the embrace. He was still very uncomfortable with such an outward expression of affection.

"I'm scared." She said simply. A tear slid down her cheek and a small sob escaped her lips.

WOMEN!Thought Hiko, torn between the appeal of hugging a beautiful woman and hugging a weeping woman that had a relationship with his student. He knew how to handle men, but it had been ages since he'd even held a woman. He stole himself for some crass comments and instead other words slid out before he could recapture them and Hiko wondered if he might just be going soft in his old age. "Shhhh. Don't cry. Never give up. You're the Shihondai of your school. It's a hard road you've chosen for yourself. There were thirteen before me, and I have often found myself lacking in the strength that I needed. I couldn't keep my student from making his mistakes, and when he'd made them I had no words for him that could save him the pain that he'd created. It would be wrong for me to stand by and watch you dance around each other when I could do something more. You're both stupid. Him for not being brave enough to come to you, and you for not insisting on it. If he fails again I'll feel responsible. You're a beautiful girl with a beautiful spirit. People can't live alone forever...and you can't betray yourself by giving away your true intentions." Hiko was simply relieved that she'd stopped crying. "A sword is created in fire and is tempered in the heat. You can't make the blade without fire, and the same is true of deeper feelings. Not that I've had all that much experience mind you..." She laughed and Hiko allowed himself the smallest of smiles. "Kamiya..."

"Yes..." She paused for a second before saying, "Shishou?" She smiled even brighter and Hiko felt his heart warm...well...a little.

"You're hugging me."

"I'm sorry!" She reddened, let go, and bowed.

"Well, it was fine with me, but I think Kenshin is turning a horrible shade of green. Breakfast? So soon?" He whistled while he walked in the direction of the dining room. "Don't keep her for too long. She looks pale." Hiko shoved Kenshin in the direction of the lawn as he made his way toward what he hoped was the right direction. Idiots. Both of them.He shook his head. I shouldn't meddle in their affairs, but I think I've been standing on the sidelines for far too long in Kenshin's life. I let him make too many mistakes when I could have saved him from them. He's too stubborn. Maybe the girl can help him with that.Hiko followed his nose toward breakfast.

Kenshin worked in silence after Yahiko left as he tried to plan how to speak with Kaoru. The swordsman had intended to talk with her for days...but now he had a time meted out thanks to Yahiko. The timetable was a good thing, because he had honestly been trying to put it off. For as long as humanly possible it seemed. When the vegetables were all sliced and arranged the rice finished cooking and Kenshin went to round up the rest of the diners. His feet padded through the halls and led him to the place he and Hiko had fought earlier. What he saw made him stop dead in his tracks. Kaoru, his Kaoru, was hugging Hiko and sobbing. Worse Hiko was hugging her back and whispering to her. Kenshin felt himself jumping to conclusions. She stopped crying, smiled, and bowed. Hiko's voice raised enough for Kenshin to hear. "That's fine with me, but I think Kenshin is turning a horrible shade of green. Breakfast? So soon?" Kenshin nodded and smiled regarding his teacher well despite his overgrown imagination. When Hiko brushed his side however, he dispelled all of Kenshin's stranger assumptions. "Don't keep her for too long. She looks pale." Then he was shoved none too gently out toward the beautiful girl with the moist eyes. Hiko was gone, and it was just the two of them.

"Kenshin, I know that probably looked really odd but I swear it wasn't what it might have looked like. I want you to know that...that what you might believe..." Kaoru was turning pinker by the second and let out a little nervous laugh.

"Kaoru...even if my mind did formulate such unpleasant things, I hardly believe for a second that anything like that would happen. Well, I imagine it might. He's a little egotistical, granted, but I imagine there is alot that one could find attractive or...maybe a more appropriate word would be exotic, about Shishou. Well, then again, I guess that if I were a woman I could find nothing attractive about him...but that comes from living with him and I think that anyone would eventually...What?"

"Hold on..." Kaoru held up her hand and placed it on his shoulder sending a small thrill up his spine. "Did you just say Kaoru?"

"Yes, Kaoru-dono." Kenshin felt horrible nerves stabbing in his side giving him a hint of vertigo.

"No, no, no!" She shook her head and stepped closer to him, and Kenshin was trapped. He could do nothing but nervously stare at her smiling face. Suddenly in noticing the tension in his shoulder she stepped back. "You...you...don't have to. I understand. I'm sorry." Her face became impassive and a breeze stirred some fallen leaves on the ground. As the breeze ended she began to slip away from him toward the dojo. "I'll just, go. Breakfast right?" He felt time slowing down as he watched her walking slowly away, and he knew that he had to tell her what was on his mind. Yahiko was right to tell him to talk. It was time.

"No, please stop. I don't want you to be angry with me." She stopped and a chill wind blew leaves about the yard once again, and Kaoru's hair seemed to take on a life of its own. He came toward her and summoned up his courage. "I care...I care so much I don't know what to say, but for your sake I will try." His hand came to rest on her shoulder and the smile that painted itself on Kaoru's face was one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen. The space between them melted away completely in that second and she rested her forehead on Kenshin's shoulder.

"That's all you had to say." She whispered into his chest and held him tightly so that he could feel her heart beating. His eyes closed and his face turned up to the sky. He had to marvel at the perfection of it all, the morning sun was warm against his face and the breeze blew leaves about their feet and they were together.

"HELLO! Breakfast. Inside?" A voice rang from inside the dojo. Bringing both from their reverie.

"Yes! Shishou! We're coming!" He shouted toward the building. "Tonight, will you accompany me on a walk, Kaoru? I have needed to talk with you most of all." Kenshin was nervous that she would say no, but then he considered that she had no idea what he wanted to talk about and couldn't possibly know what he was about to tell her. This fact didn't particularly bolster his confidence.

"Of course, Kenshin." Her eyes unburied themselves from his shoulder and she nodded while another slow smile spread itself across Kenshin's face. He gave her a small hug and let his hands fall to his side as she did the same.

"Thank-you...Kaoru. Tonight then?" She bobbed her head energetically and bounded back toward the house. It was a much better end than Kaoru walking away in the sadness she'd held before. Kenshin took a deep breath. Things were going to work out...for all of them. He took another breath to ready himself for Hiko and then entered the dining room.

Kaoru was already talking. "...and I'm sorry to keep you waiting Hiko-san." They began to dish themselves up the various food items and began to eat in a companionable silence, but soon Kaoru started to talk about the things that Kenshin might show their guest. "Ooooo, I know! The sake shop in town is just lovely and the proprietor was very close friends with my father." Kenshin fought the urge to roll his eyes. Kaoru was positively glowing with energy, and Hiko was absorbed enough in their conversation to leave him alone so far during breakfast.

"Good choice in friends. It would be nice to get some sake here in Tokyo before I left." That's when it dawned on Kenshin. When he'd walked up to them the night before...No sake jug. His mind flipped from scene to scene, but it had been absent in every memory. He hadn't had a drop of alcohol since he'd joined them.

Kenshin smacked his closed fist into his open hand and said, "Aa, I've noticed your missing companion."

"I'm startled that you have the ability to focus at all." Hiko said snidely.

"Shishou!!!" Kenshin tried not to look too offended. He was.

"I've made an oath to drink with none but Hitomi until I leave this city." Hiko's countenance gave nothing away but Kenshin could see the pain behind his eyes. Kenshin understood nothing better than the pain of loss, and lowered his head.

"I have to leave." Kaoru stood and bowed to the two men. "I have a lesson at the Dojo across town, and I need to visit Tae before I go to my second lesson. She wanted to talk..."

"We can meet at the Akabeko then...At one o'clock?" Kenshin looked hopefully at the retreating figure.

"Yes, certainly. That would be a great idea, as long as you don't mind me arriving as I am." She seemed uncertain. The gi and Hakama with the bag and shinai slung over her shoulder, reminding Kenshin once again that she was an unusual woman indeed.

"That would be perfect." Kenshin looked at her blue sparkling eyes and grinned. She blushed and looked down for a second before her head came quickly back up.

"Hold on! Who's going to pay for that? HUH?" She waved her Shinai threateningly at the ex-hitokiri.

He held up both hands in what he hoped would be a placating manner. "Sessha will pay Kaoru-dono. I have saved up a bit." She smiled at Kenshin and the bokken retreated from its head-bound trajectory.

"Kenshin, Hiko-san, I'll see you at lunch!" Her bubbly figure disappeared from the room. "BYE!"

Kenshin watched her leave and then as an afterthought remarked. "I think that's the fastest and earliest I've ever seen Kaoru leave. Yahiko was the same...Not even staying for breakfast. Perhaps there was a change in everyone's schedule."

Hiko was apparently not paying attention to Kenshin's musings. "I can't believe you let her get away with that. She certainly is a violent young tanooki." Hiko stared out the doors into the yard that Kaoru had left through.

"It really isn't that bad. Honestly her temper has improved measurably..."

"Mmmmhmmm. I don't really want to know. Shall we be off as well? I have much to see and it would seem that as usual you are late to start, Deshi. Kenshin looked at the pile of dishes and then back at his former teacher.

"I'll rinse them now and do them tonight as I prepare dinner." Kenshin stood and began to carry the breakfast dishes to the wash basin.

"Good. I have the location of our first stop I don't know how long each will take, but if I remember your training properly patience is something you developed and mastered out of necessity a long time ago."

"One day Shishou...One day." Kenshin muttered as he walked from the room with the dishes.

"I won't hold my breath."

Kamiya Kaoru left the dojo with a sort of extra bounce in her step. Kenshin said he "cared". Maybe he more than "cared", maybe all of this was finally leading somewhere. Hiko should never have worried...or whatever it was that he was doing. Kenshin would eventually come to his senses on his own. Her heart was beating at a million miles a minute and no matter how fast her feet traveled she couldn't seem to outpace its thrumming. Her senses told her to concentrate on what she would do in class today, but her mind could only recall the embrace that she and Kenshin had shared before breakfast. She closed her eyes and thought about the night before, his fingers tangling through her hair as he seemed to weigh the idea of maybe kissing her. Hiko had ruined that moment...but really who cared. What was a little delay? Kaoru started to imagine what she might wear on their walk together. He had even asked her formally. She couldn't even imagine what her father would say right now if he were still alive. Okay, there might be a really long talk about letting strange people you don't know move into your house first...

The previous evening she had been lying in the yard and staring up at the stars. Actually she hadn't been paying a bit of attention to the stars but it would be a good enough cover if a certain someone asked any questions. Two weeks...she had watched the sun rise out of the waves circling Enishi's island, and bravely waited. Never in a million years would she have admitted it out loud, but she had felt completely helpless. Enishi was without doubt psychotic in his grief. There had been moments when Kaoru wondered if Kenshin would arrive on the island to find her corpse. There wasn't a moment in all of that time she hadn't believed Kenshin would come for her. Sometime in the second week she had started to worry despite any deeply held beliefs. What could be keeping him? He could be hurt...or sick. It had been then and there that Kaoru had decided that she would train. If Kenshin did in fact want anything to do with her in a more...involved sense, he would need someone that could take care of herself. It wasn't that Kamiya Kashin was ineffective or that Kaoru was a bad swordsmistress it was just that Kenshin himself ran with a very rough crowd. All of her friends had to search for strength at one time or another. Yahiko had sought strength from her. Sano had found strength on the road to help Kenshin. Kenshin...Well, Kaoru wasn't certain where that near wellspring of strength came from. Hiko had trained him, but the two of them were more like oil and water than anyone else she could think of. Maybe his strength came from Tomoe?She felt a small lurch in her heart when she thought about Kenshin's dead wife. How can one compare to the perfection of a ghost?There was no way to make it less painful for Kenshin other than to simply be there. Maybe that would be enough...the way things seemed to be headed.

On the day that Kenshin had finally arrived to save her from the island she'd been meditating for hours in the dawn's light. Somehow she had begun a kind of routine. She would meditate, and then practice her swordless forms until the sun came up over the edge of the sea. After that she would clean up so that her captor wouldn't know what she'd been up to and then cook something completely inedible and try to gag it down while daydreaming about Kenshin's miso soup. Then she would steal the broom and practice all of her sword forms with it while periodically doing some sweeping. So when she heard Kenshin's voice over the tide she nearly leapt for joy. He came! He finally came for me!She was allowed a kimono for the first time since she'd arrived. Somehow she knew that the waiting was over. Her family had come to take her home no matter what. At what cost to themselves?Kaoru still couldn't say. At the time she'd just "known" that Kenshin wouldn't want to stay at her dojo anymore, not after all of the worry she'd probably put him through. This had probably caused him no end of frustration. Since she could never be what he needed...It was useless to worry about it now. She was going to get home, and there was nothing more important than that. At the very least she could say that the people making rude comments and complaining about her cooking would be people she loved. People who didn't strangle her or vomit on her, these were the best thoughts she'd had all week.

The angry swordswoman had to stumble through the woods, and Enishi didn't seem to care if she caught up or not. "Slow down! Jerk! I can't believe you're making me tromp around this way!" Kaoru yelled much in the same manner all the way to her destination, and was still complaining when she broke through the thicker part of the forest into the outer-lying sparse foliage that became the open space of the beach. They had all seemed so happy to see her. "EVERYONE!" She looked at them and their faces radiated excitement. She had survived and then, just beyond Misao... "Ken..." He looked tired and a little thinner than usual. Before she could think beyond his thinness however Enishi stepped between them. Blocking her way. He said he would kill her if she stepped onto the beach. He had been unable to kill her as of yet, but something in the way he said the words made her believe him. When Kenshin finally spoke to her the smile he gave her was wonderful.

"Wait there. I'll come for you." His features stood out in sharp relief from his almost sickly thinness, and yet Kaoru could still sense his strength. He would have brought her home if the devil himself was standing between them. Indeed Enishi fought like a demon, and when Kenshin had destroyed his eardrum she'd been sure that the fight would soon be over. Then...

"BANG!" A shot rang out over the beach and Kaoru could only watch in horror as Kenshin was shot. Time slowed down as she left the safety of her forest vantage. She could faintly hear her friends shouting for her to stop and yet her feet kept moving until she was fully between Kenshin and the new threat. The words I won't die.just kept sliding like mush through her brain. Kaoru had made the first promise she couldn't keep. Her eyes closed as she awaited the bullet or the sword that would end her life, but it never came. When she finally opened her eyes again Enishi was breaking the little man with the gun in two. Enishi had turned on the man easily...and really what did someone working for a man like Enishi expect? She'd seen the type of people they surrounded themselves with and knew right away that they were the type one could count on to NOT count on. Enishi gave himself up because it's what Tomoe would have wanted. No one had asked, but it was what Kaoru wanted as well. Kaoru caught a falling Kenshin on the beach and her heart had never been so full.

"Oro."

He was weak and battered and thinner than her mind could have placed him, even thinner than he'd been when he entered her life. They returned to Tokyo soon after, and Kaoru gave Enishi the last remaining thoughts of his sister in the form of her diary. She had wondered what it might contain, but decided that the woman's thoughts belonged to the people who had lived it. Besides if Kenshin wanted her to know later he would tell her...Right?

Kaoru smiled at the Tokyo streets and then at the dojo coming into view. She arrived ten minutes earlier than usual. "KAMIYA-SENSEI!!! Kamiya-sensei is here!!!" Rin, a boy from the dojo, bounded up and bowed deeply to Kaoru. "It's so wonderful to see you. The prospect of never seeing you again was saddening."

"It's great to be back." She smiled at the student and bowed back. Okay, so I was gone for a while but that's really strange.She looked up and it looked as if the entire dojo was emptying of it's students and they filed out quickly and Kaoru couldn't help feeling a bit odd, if not loved.

"Kaoru-chan!" Maekawa-sensei bowed quickly but surprised Kaoru by running forward and hugging the young shihondai. "Oh, god it's too good to be true. I couldn't stand burying your father, burying you was impossible. An old man like me isn't supposed to bury seventeen-year-old women. I was going to invite your ward to stay here with me after the funeral, especially since Himura-san left. Every time I came over however the dojo was empty, or later that Aoshi fellow said Yahiko and some girl...Misao were looking for "evidence". I gave up trying to track him down figuring that if he needed me he'd come by. When I heard you were alive...When you came back with all of them..." The man holding Kaoru was full of emotion. Kaoru herself however was in shock. "Kaoru-chan? Is there something wrong?" Her world was tilting horribly off center. DEAD? No...NO!

"Bu-bu-buried?!? Kenshin missing? Yahiko...ALONE? What do you mean? Maekawa-sensei...Dead? I ...you all thought I was dead?" She was shaking uncontrollably and her legs gave out. Kneeling on the ground she fought back what felt like either a sob or vomit...she couldn't tell. Maekawa held her trembling form and stroked her hair. She thought she also saw him wave the students away because when she had recovered herself enough to look up they had gone.

"I'm sorry Kaoru-chan. I thought you knew. Did they intend for us not to tell you?" It seemed as if he was holding his breath waiting for Kaoru to move.

"I...I don't know. I'm sorry Sensei I think that I'm going to go home. I promise to not make a habit out of being so emotional in your dojo. I will return after I've sorted this out...in a couple of days or so. Thank you for being so patient with me." She bowed low at her waist and then waited until his affirmative nod.

"Be well Kaoru-chan. We will be eagerly awaiting your return." She could tell that Maekawa was very disturbed but was understanding. He wouldn't hold this against her.

She walked mechanically out of the dojo. Her earlier thoughts that made her heart skip were all but gone. Yahiko had been left alone? Where did Kenshin go? He had looked terrible when she came back with him to the dojo. Starved and almost sick looking when he'd fought against Enishi. Things began to click into place and her world began to fall apart. Her feet had almost tripled speed. She had to get to the Akabeko. "Yahiko," his odd behavior, the way he looked at her sometimes. She clutched her stomach and felt bile rush up her throat. All of the people in town, the way they'd whispered when she went past. It was all some horrible nightmare. Had her friends wanted to spare her the pain of knowing what they'd been through? The tears had broken free long ago and she wanted to stop them. What kind of woman was she turning out to be? What kind of shihondai was she turning out to be if her first reaction was that of a little girl?

Her mind began making connections, but after those connections were made they only seemed to make more questions. Kaoru's friends had been happy to see her...ALIVE. How had she died? Who was there to make them believe she was dead? Was there someone who looked like her who had taken her place? If so, had Enishi killed an innocent woman just because they had the same face? Was there just a body? How long was Yahiko alone before Aoshi and Misao arrived? Kenshin disappeared? Where did he go? Sano...That's why he got all the way out to farm country! Just...WHY? Most important at the top of all of these questions was. "Kenshin, in all that time? Why didn't you tell me?" She could almost make out the sign "Akabeko" through her haze of tears.

End of chapter 2

"AAAAAAAAAKABEKO where the winds go sweeping down the plain." You know...there aren't many words that fit in the place of Oklahoma. Anyway, this is chapter two. Pitifully you have waited for...over a year...for me to release it. I have up to chapter seven written now though and we have only to wait on my Saga-city connection to shoot it back (or down) for us to get going. I'm sorry it's taken so long. I've been so excited to continue writing and you have no idea how smile-y it's making me to finish this chapter. Mostly because chapter four is such a great chapter and even Calger (who is the best beta on the planet!!!) hasn't seen chapter three finished yet, so she's going to be happy to make eye contact with chapter three after such a long time with the finished product. I mean...tootling my own horn is okay right? I hope you all look forward to it!


	3. Chapter 3: Passing Glances

Hey again everyone. It's time for chapter three. If I tell you that this was a long and grueling chapter will you give me a cookie? No? Really? Fine! I'll just make chapter four even longer...and yeah.

Kenshin? Me? Own? No. That honor goes to the great Watsuki, Nobuhiro. I would love to be his friend though. He sounds like a dork. I love being a dork and I like having dorky friends (obviously Calger-chan my beta and the writer of an excellent fic "Prism" that recently won an outstanding award, doesn't fit into that role cause she's the very height of cool!!!) and I want...Ummm...Never mind that...I don't own Kenshin. I'll just borrow him for a while and then give him back okay?

The Long Road Home

Chapter 3:

Passing Glances

A Rurouni Kenshin Story by:

Ranma151773012

Kenshin and Hiko walked onto the main thoroughfare of roads and had been in a companionable silence for most of the trip so far until Kenshin asked an all-important question and Hiko did what he had to do...

"Where are we going?" He ignored Kenshin's question for the third time.

Hiko looked around at each of the street vendors and when he saw the work of a local potter he turned up his nose and scoffed. "See that? The secret to being a true artist is knowing your materials..."

"Where are we going?" Kenshin interrupted again.

"Of course what would you know about that? You didn't stick around long enough to learn the trade. You there, do you own this shop?" Hiko ignored Kenshin's question and walked over to converse with the young man in front of the potter's shop.

"No, it's my father's...may I help you?" The man bowed respectfully and spread out his hands toward his wares. He had extraordinarily long hair and it had been folded multiple times in its braid. "Perhaps something for your lady friend?"

"Excuse me?" Hiko looked around for a woman as Kenshin got a pole-axed look and passed out. "Oh, this? No, he's not a she. He's a he. And I've been refusing to buy him anything nice since he was twelve...You see..."

"Maa, Maa!" Kenshin waved his hands in a placating way from his place on the ground at the vendor's son and then glared wakizashi at his sensee.

"Oh, Himura-san! I'm sorry I didn't see you properly! Please excuse my rudeness!!!" The man was bowing down so low that his face was touching the floor.

"Kenshin?" Hiko looked from the seller to Kenshin and back again.

"I think Shishou was going to buy something..." Kenshin was, to Hiko's eyes, doing an excellent job of avoiding difficult subjects too.

"This is your teacher? Of course! Please, if I can interest you in anything! Please!" The man was looking up at them both with awe and Kenshin smiled in what Hiko considered a very absent way. "Or perhaps you are also looking for information about the "stone" that went missing from the newly formed Natural History Museum_._ Personally..." and here he leaned in closer to the two men, "I think someone on the staff must have done it because no one else could get that close."

"I..."Kenshin blinked "Oro!" He shook his head. "We weren't missing the artifact...Or even looking for it. We have much to do today, however I hope your problem...sorts itself out....quickly?" Kenshin bowed out and began to look for any reason to pardon himself.

"Hold on Kenshin, how can we know if we're searching for this stone or not? What is your name sir?"

"Hideki Hideo." The vendor bowed low again.

"Hideo-san, what is it that you know?" Hiko raised his eyebrow at Kenshin who he noticed was losing a battle with his face...He was trying for some dopey grin, that ended in a strange sort of scowl.

"Well to be honest sir, I'm not really all that informed. I just know that some blue stone that was going to be shown at the new Natural History Museum was stolen. Apparently it was really old and worth more than I would make in ten years if I never slept." Here he gesticulated wildly. "That's all I know though...other than the fact that the thieves didn't touch anything else...and that the government is getting involved because it was owned by some foreign business man." Here he leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, "Apparently it has something to do with the deaths of four women. I think those things are unrelated though, since I don't believe in curses myself." Hiko nodded his head. It doesn't seem like a pertinent piece of information unless one of those women was Akari. I think that in this case...

"It won't really be of any use to us. Perhaps I can buy a pot here another time? I am going to be in town for a few days and won't be purchasing anything until I have finished my business here." Hiko bowed to the vendor and began to walk forward. Kenshin was still standing there.

"Do you know the names of the women?" Kenshin had a vacant look about his features but his eyes were still hard and questioning.

The man shook his head. "It wasn't something the paper talked about..."

"Was that paper...?" Kenshin began, but the man cut him off before he could say anything more.

"That revolutionary one? Sure was. You think the Mejii government would let that information around?" The young man smiled too large for Hiko's liking and so he made a mental note of his face.

Both men turned to leave as Kenshin said his goodbye and as Hiko was leaving he turned to Kenshin. "Friend of yours? He seemed to know you."

"You know...I don't have any idea who that was." Kenshin didn't seem disturbed by this so Hiko thought that maybe this wasn't unusual behavior as far as Kenshin was concerned. "Although I guess I should find out if he has any intentions so that I can be certain he isn't trying to track me down to kill me." Kenshin said this with that strange grin still hovering on his face, and he looked even more vacant now that his eyes were empty.

"Your life is very complicated. Wipe that smile off your face, it's giving me the creeps." Kenshin looked stunned for a second and Hiko realized that Kenshin had perhaps not known that he was smiling. "Don't tell me you look like that all the time. What in the name of eternity would make you adopt such a dopey look?"

"Shishou, would you have me scowl at the people here?" Kenshin scowled at him.

"It works for me. You're much more real when you're scowling." Hiko commented as they walked past the busy stalls.

"Have you ever considered that it is not, in fact, that I am a brooding and unhappy person but that you drive me to depression?" Kenshin looked satisfied with the comment, as though he thought he'd already won their mental battle of wills on this fight.

"Have you ever considered that it might be yet another of your strange extra personalities? I have no control over the damage you did to your brain after you left my mountain. Since I never saw you smiling like some brainless girl in a tea room when you lived with me I can only assume the damage was done after I was finished with you. On the other hand...you fell on your head a lot...a whole lot..." Hiko remembered back to the time when Kenshin was learning the Ryu Tsui Sen and saw image after image of Kenshin falling squarely on his face. I remember as if it were yesterday.

"...oro..." Kenshin got a very maligned look on his face.

"Heh." Hiko sniggered slightly. Apparently so does he.

"Either way...I want to tell you the whole story of what happened, but I think we should get some tea and try to bore the guy who has been following me since I got on the Tokaido in Kyoto. He is standing back there." Kenshin narrowed his eyes and Hiko watched as Kenshin confirmed Hiko's suspicions. "I think, that he thinks I don't notice him. He's been a very lively companion. I was really hoping that he'd given up when I left him dangling back on that ravine but he's apparently very into his job. Who am I to second guess that?"

"Shishou? I want the whole story. This is very odd. Why would someone watch you if you were only journeying here to honor Akari-sense's memory?" Kenshin looked as puzzled as Hiko felt.

"To be honest I was thinking that he would disappear once I got here." Hiko looked at Kenshin. "I thought that he'd been watching simply to make sure that I got to Tokyo, since some part of this is obviously a set up, and he would report in that I was here after I arrived. I never expected that he would follow me around like some love sick girl for the rest of my stay here." Hiko checked back again and indeed he was still following. Hiko smiled wolfishly.

"A trick?" Kenshin looked a little stunned. Hiko shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

"You mean Akari? I'm not sure yet. I have to go see her to be certain of that. She might be dead. His presence and her death together might be coincidental...but somehow...I can see how one might lead into the other so I'm going to give this guy the benefit of the doubt before I behead him in the street." Hiko ambled easily and said the last words as if he were talking of serving tea to a guest. He saw Kenshin shudder slightly.

"That's very magnanimous of you, Shishou. Hopefully that won't be necessary." Kenshin was still watching the man who had ambled up to talk to the young man at the pottery stand and now he held a weary look. "I really hope that they don't know each other...I'm very tired of plots against me."

"You should have stuck around the mountain and learned to throw pots instead of becoming some great shadow assassin then." Hiko laughed out loud and even Kenshin let out a small and not quite smirking laugh at that.

"Shishou...I still don't regret what I did for Japan...I just regret the misery that I caused and the people that lost their lives. There isn't much room left for personal losses, I'm sure that I'll eventually get around to that later." He glared at Hiko as he said this and the older man rolled his eyes.

"Sarcasm is not a good part of your conversational skills. If you're not careful people are going to think that you spend every day wallowing in your own despair." Hiko shook his head and rubbed his temples. "A man can only shed so much blood in his life before he becomes something that he can't recognize as himself...I'm just grateful that you found yourself before you fell too far to catch." Kenshin looked like he was blinking in surprise at Hiko's statement and the master slowed down and stopped to closely regard the younger man. "What? You don't think I understand? Kenshin...do you remember the day that we met?" Hiko began to walk once again.

"Those men were going to kill everyone and as I ran I realized that I was too late. Every step I took seemed to take me farther away. When I finally reached the caravan I realized I could only save one person that day. Just you, Kenshin, and despite the fact that I had never met a single one of the people in that long procession I was enraged with myself. It had been boiling just beneath the surface, those men met more than the sword of the thirteenth master that day...they were torn from their lives in the claws of a vengeful dragon. I had been so lost in my own quiet contemplation after becoming Hiko that even my rage was not loud...but if I'd had a voice I would have cursed them to their deaths. It wasn't until I began to teach you that I slowly lost some of that..." Hiko trailed off. "Has he added a few friends or is it me?" Hiko nodded back in the direction of their new suspicious looking followers.

"Apart from himself? Five. Two from the noodle stand and three from that fish market. I haven't felt this watched since last month." Kenshin was walking with an easy gait and Hiko was watching his eyes become hard and calculating.

"Six on two. I like those odds. I don't think they are going to act unless we're somewhere more private. Maybe we should give them their wish?" Hiko started to walk toward a small alley with Kenshin following at a comfortable distance. "Either way. Kenshin, I'm not going to say I understand what it's like to mete out heaven's judgment on the whims of a politician, but I certainly know what it is to kill. Despite what you may think of me, also I know what it is like to have regret." They walked down the alley and the long roofs of the buildings cast them into shadow as they walked quickly toward a right angle that led into a dead end and they waited for their six adversaries to come around the corner.

The sound of feet approaching filled Hiko's brain. Wait...that's not six people that's just...Kenshin and Hiko both pulled their swords and let out a small yell and the alley filled with the sound of sliding skirling steel just as an old woman turned the corner.

"Yahhhhhhhh!" The two swordsmen stopped immediately and looked at each other.

"Eee-Yahhhhhhhhh!" The old woman, startled as she was, jumped back and slipped over a small box in her fright landing with a deafening crash in a pile of rubbish.

The old woman coming around the corner was as much of a shock for Kenshin as it was for Hiko and they both put their katana back as they rushed forward to help the flailing old woman. "Obaa-dono! Are you all right? We thought you were a gang of men!"

"Well, I don't know if my spirit has returned to my body yet since I swear it just flew off with Taketsura's cherry tree. On the other hand, I know that I'm not a gang of men..." The old woman was glaring at the two men before her and trying to pick herself free of the trash.

"We had noticed." Hiko stood as he said this. "Make sure that your new friend there is okay, Kenshin." Hiko left by leaping straight up onto the roof of the nearest building and presumably looking for their six lost shadows, ran in the direction they had last seen them.

"Who was that, Himura-san?" The old woman looked at him strangely, and Kenshin was startled that she'd known his name. This is the second time today that someone I don't know has called me by name, so there must be a connection. I'm not sensing that this woman is about to kill me though, so I will try to wait and see where this new farce leads. It's possible that the men following Hiko were working for her or that she is working for them.She began to speak again and Kenshin listened. "I am not sure why I'm telling you this...since it was not my choice to bring such filth beyond my door but...My name is Matsui Yuki."

"That was my teacher, Matsui-dono. I can't apologize enough for what happened today. Please, if you need anything tell me." Kenshin looked at the thoughtful look on her face and began to wonder if he should have said something else since she looked very unhappy.

"Himura-san...Was that Hiko Seijuro the Thirteenth?" The question took him completely by surprise. "Was that him? Or is it you now that holds that title of Hiko?"

"H-How do you know me? Or my master?" Now I am certain that we are being fooled...but by whom?

"I am Matsui Yuki the esteemed mother of one Matsui Akari now deceased. It was me who sent for your master...I've been waiting for him to come. I figured the very least he could do now that my darling one is gone is to help me. You see, your hermit of a master ruined my beautiful daughter for marriage, and now I need him to find my husband and my grandson. It's nice to know that he still knows how to treat a lady." She stood and brushed the trash from her very expensive looking kimono.

Kenshin was startled into silence. He blinked. The world hadn't corrected itself yet. He blinked again. "I'm sorry Matsui-dono. I must have misheard you, did you say that..."

"Akari's son and my husband are missing. You did not misunderstand me. I only hope that whoever killed Akari has not already killed them both. I admit that I don't understand the circumstances that led to all of this. Just know that my innocent daughter had suffered enough..."

Kenshin was feeling very uncomfortable. There was nothing he could say to this woman that would be of any comfort. At the same time he was too busy feeling disturbed at the prospect of Hiko having any children and he very nearly fell over dead at the thought alone.

"How can I explain?" She looked up at the roof and her eyes narrowed. "I guess I should start eighteen years ago when my daughter returned to me...ruined..."

"Ahhh. You must be Yuki. Look, I'm not going to take any of your crap." Kenshin took a startled mental gasp. Don't...You'll regret it later.The ex-hitokiri thought. Kenshin watched Hiko as he jumped down and he looked directly into his student's eyes She might be telling the truth.He found himself wanting to get down to the brass tacks of this situation but found himself also desiring the feeling of freedom that went with avoidance. "Kenshin. They disappeared. It's obvious that we've been fooled. Now, is it you old woman? Or is there more to this?"

"I assure you...Hiko...There is nothing that I would like more than to see you strung from a bridge and left until your flesh rots off, but I did not hire any thugs to fight you in a back alley. I'm the kind of woman that would like to face you head on...besides, I find myself in a very unusual situation." Kenshin cocked his eyebrow at this and the old woman held herself in a very dignified manner despite her kimono being covered in stains. You can say that again."I find that I need your help. If you would come to our home...I will explain everything. We can't do this here. There are eyes everywhere now. Apparently I should add those who follow you to this list. These are dangerous times we live in, you know?" The matriarch began to walk and signaled that they should follow. She somehow still seemed very refined despite everything that had just happened.

"Well?" Kenshin looked at Hiko as they began to walk behind the woman.

"Well what?" Hiko looked at him.

"Did you have a son with Akari or not?" Kenshin felt unusual asking such a question.

"I have no idea." Hiko seemed impassive.

"Oro!" Kenshin very nearly tripped over his own feet. "What do you mean? How can you be uncertain? This should be one of those times when a yes or no answer will immediately come to mind."

"If there was anything that came of the time that we spent together she kept it from me quite well. Personally, I think this old bat is having me on."

"And if she's not?" Kenshin looked searchingly at his master.

"Well, he'd be a grown man by now. There's nothing I can do about it." Hiko was obviously disturbed, Kenshin noted, by the sudden change in his tone but was apparently doing his level best to address the situation as it came. I guess there is nothing to gain if we worry about things that may not be.Kenshin looked at Hiko questioningly, he answered, "On the positive side this is the easiest way to find Akari's family home without having to ask around and draw attention to ourselves."

They wended their way through the streets and turned toward the nicer district in Tokyo. Twenty minutes later they stood outside a set of gates bordered by a long wall and Kenshin couldn't help looking around startled when they'd come to a very large European styled home. "As you can see I live well enough."_. _The old woman said as she walked forward and began to walk directly for the gateway and the man standing next to it.

"Akari's father is a famous doctor and moxibustionist to the Emperor. Their family has been in service to the his highness for more than seven generations and has probably lost very little in this Meiji despite no longer being samurai...am I correct?" Hiko stood at the gates to the home and rattled off the information as if it were common knowledge. Kenshin was a little surprised that Hiko knew all of that.

"Not exactly, Seijuro." The woman paused as the guard outside of her home unlocked and opened her gate. "We have only been the emperor's doctor for the last six generations, before that it was the brother in law to the wife of our ancestor. Although I imagine I'm just looking for reasons to correct you at that point. I don't see why not, you have ruined this family." Hiko rolled his eyes skyward as Kenshin walked silently and the old woman fumed.

"So your grandson is not a doctor?" Kenshin rolled his own eyes at Hiko's statement. I don't think this is the kind of woman he should spar with. She may just bite his hand off.

"No, he is." The old woman walked them through the front door and down into the sitting room where tea awaited them served by a foreign woman. "And more..."

"Matsui-dono, I would like to know more about how Akari-dono lost her life. She was always very certain of herself. I remember that quite plainly. The way you speak, you seem convinced that the cause of her death was murder." Kenshin watched as the refined woman set down her tea and seemed to come to a kind of decision as she stood with shaking hands that Kenshin thought may have not come entirely with age.

"Here...I wasn't going to show you...but come with me." They followed the old woman down a set of stairs into a very cold room. "Here you go. She's dead." She motioned toward the body on the table surrounded in blocks of ice. "I did many tests and a poison seems to be the cause of death. Fugu to be exact. It's only been a week and a half. I will have to cremate her body within the week or it will begin a further state of decay, and I may not...I...I wanted Shin to see his mother's rites, but if he doesn't come back soon I fear that I might never see him again."

"When will you die?" Hiko looked piercingly at Yuki and asked her with no preamble.

"I beg your pardon?" Yuki gasped and covered her mouth. "I'm not dying any time soon!" She lifted her head into the air and glared defiantly at Hiko now with her fists balled up at her sides. Kenshin was feeling left out and yet glad of it. He wandered over to the body of the old friend and teacher and felt a small pang of remorse. I'm sorry that you suffered. Your mother seems very angry on your behalf.He took the hand of the corpse and then just as he was about to let go clenched tightly once again. Kenshin vaguely heard the two others arguing in the background. Wrong. Her hands are all wrong! And the scars behind the ears?Kenshin turned the head of the dead thing slowly and noted the large scar behind both ears. GEIN!

"This is not Akari-dono." Both turned toward Kenshin in shock. "This is another of Gein's puppets, a creation. Do whatever you like with this body...as it isn't who you think it is." Kenshin felt anger roiling inside of himself as he thought of yet another person being led to believe that the person they loved had died. Left with only their remorse and the thought that somewhere...the person might be very much alive. It was a terrible situation. Kenshin looked down and disgust covered his features, and for once, he did not try to mask it.

"How...How did you know?" Yuki walked slowly toward the corpse and her hands shook as she reached Kenshin. Placing a hand on his shoulder. "I didn't know. How could you possibly..." The woman trailed off and tears began to slide down her cheeks.

"Gein, a horrible man, replaced someone dear to me with one of these...things...before. I would have been in hell already had it not been for my friend who identified the process." His hands clutched reflexively at his side to feel the weight of his sword. "We were all fooled. Do not feel bad Matsui-dono, there is a chance that she is in fact alive...Especially since they believed it necessary for you to think her dead." Kenshin did not feel heartened however, because whoever did this must have had a purpose. To even think that they could hide a live person as a dead one showed that they were indeed very confident, as confident as Enishi had been when he'd stolen Kaoru. Kenshin fought the urge to give an enraged shout.

"But the dragons...How would they know?" She shook as she turned from the body that was not Akari. Kenshin was confused by this response but didn't ask. Hiko did not seem confused, and Kenshin figured that this was something that he would eventually explain. He raised his eyebrows. Hiko turned away. Or not.

"What are the chances that someone in the family has done this?" Hiko looked at her searchingly.

"IF YOU ARE IMPLYING..." Yuki-dono had a bit of a temper apparently.

"Since you insist that I'm the only person who has made love to your daughter then it stands to reason that someone very close to her has done this. How else would they know about the dragons?"

"I...I don't know." She looked down. Frustration was etched on her face. "It's not possible that they would have done this. They would lose their place. It's all that matters now to them..." Kenshin was confused and angry, and more than a little restless.

Kenshin walked to meet Yuki and bowed his head as he spoke, voice full of angered tension, "All of this will be over soon. We will find Akari-dono for you, and the other two. I will not let another person suffer in the name of that creature Gein. It is up to Hiko whether he will help you or not, but I will help you Yuki-dono." Kenshin bowed and began to walk up the stairs. "I will bring your family back to you one way or the other." He stepped heavily up the steps and out the front door to wait outside for Hiko suddenly feeling that even the large house was far too closed in and confining.

Hiko looked into Yuki's eyes. "I would know those eyes anywhere. You are going to die. When?"

"I have a short time. These things happen, you know? I'm old and..." She stopped talking because he wasn't even looking at her while she said the last words.

"Who?" Hiko looked up and studied her intently.

"It is the way that these things happen." She shrugged her shoulders.

"How are you involved? Who is going to hurt you? Is there anything you can tell me? Don't let someone murder you and not at least tell me why. When I find your daughter I want to be able to tell her why and who murdered her own mother." Hiko seemed less than interested; however his tone burned with anger.

"I can tell you that I've been waiting for my freedom for almost twenty years...and I'm very tired. She will understand that well enough. Don't get the wrong idea, just because you know that I'm going to die and I admitted it doesn't mean I like you, and just because I welcome death doesn't mean that I want to share with you in it. When you find them...tell them that I am gone. Now, if that is all please get out!" Hiko walked toward the door. "Wait!" The old woman stopped him with the desperation in her voice. "What is your Himura's interest in all of this? He seemed very concerned." Hiko bowed stiffly and walked for the door.

"I don't imagine that it's really your concern. Don't tread where you aren't wanted, woman."

"That was the problem the first time around. I haven't been allowed the comfort of having my own life. Everything I have done has been in the service of this family. Now I will die, but it will be on my own terms, Hiko Seijiro." Hiko paused as she said these words and then turned.

"Have fun with that. I'm going to try and find Akari and your family so you don't have to...You want them all returned?" Hiko narrowed his eyes and felt a scowl come to his face.

Her eyes narrowed. "If they are alive...But in my death...I have no choice."

"Interesting. Are you going to tell me anything more useful before I go wandering all over Japan?"

"I know that it has more to do with our art than our craft." She stared at the floor and began speaking very fast. Her hands shook almost as badly as her voice. "My husband died under unusual circumstances...then I was given to his brother. My young daughter and I have been trying to fix this situation ever since. If she is alive...We can fix all of this, finally. There is no second son...no twin...everything is at an end for us. Shin can not be allowed to take over the family art. There are reasons, and he would have died anyway if the family got a hold of him when the month is out. They must be hidden. I will not be able to explain now, I have company coming very soon, and they would not find your presence consoling. I believe that the presence of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu in this house would drive them insane with power..." Hiko shook his head because honestly none of what she was saying made sense anymore.

"So this is the last desperate act of a woman who is already dead?" Hiko, despite spending all of his time on a mountain, knew the face of fear. He knew that she was panicking. Her calm façade didn't fool him at all.

Yuki had a very stricken look on her face. "I will die today. Because the new family of the Ryu awaits their chance at the top. My cousin and his two sons will arrive today. I can go quietly...or I can fight. I believe that the outcome will be the same so I will not fight." Hiko narrowed his eyes.

"So you would give up before the facts are known?"

"I TOLD YOU THERE IS NO SECOND SON!" She yelled, and then calmed herself. "At least this way, if I say nothing, they will believe that Shin is dead and they may not look for him. If you find her...if you find them together...Send them far away. You have to find Shin, even if you do not consider him your son. He will be killed senselessly. You can't stay here though. I would ask you to leave now."

"I will do what I can." Hiko swept from the room and left to find Kenshin. "I don't know if he is my son...but you are Akari's mother. Don't die today. Run...or simply fight. I know that she will want to see you again."

"Uneventful." if there was one way he could describe the Akabeko after the amazing display between Kenshin and Hiko this morning that would be it. "Boring," would be the other, if he was allowed two. Sure it was always great to see Tsubame, but the restaurant was doing zero business today, and Yahiko had nothing to do. It wasn't long before he'd begun doing sword forms in the kitchen. Yahiko thought on the garden that Kenshin had demolished. If he could do that to the earth...what would it be like...to be on the other end?At the end of a particularly long kata a small clap resounded from a very awed Tsubame.

"Yahiko-kun...Amazing!" She half hid her blush behind a tray.

"It was ok...I messed up a couple of times. And there's this block to strike that I always step off the wrong foot for...I have to hop just to get back into it..." Yahiko's voice trailed off as the ten year old finally noticed Tsubame had small tears running down her cheeks. "Aww, come on Tsubame. Don't cry okay? I don't know what's wrong but it'll be okay. Okay?" He gave her a nervous hug and drew her head toward him to look into her eyes. He'd seen other guys do it, and he hoped that he'd done it right. "Have I ever been wrong before?"

Her smile was like the sun coming out of the rain. "No Yahiko-kun. You've never been wrong before. I'm just so worried. Tae's business has been bad lately, and I've been afraid that I'll be let go...I would have to find work again. In the mean time what would my family do? There has to be a way...but...I"

"No buts! Everything will be fine. The Akabeko's business will be great again soon, and your family'll be fine. I would never let you get hurt." Yahiko felt his cheeks burn. He meant all of it, but when he heard it out loud it sounded really lame. Tsubame didn't seem to look like she thought him the slightest bit lame. Her eyes were dancing with warmth. He was almost shocked dead when the usually shy Tsubame leaned in and gave him the slightest whisper of a kiss. Yahiko didn't have much time for contemplation however because it was at this moment that an ever so slightly hysterical Kaoru flew into the room. They had only time to separate before the running girl threw herself at Yahiko's feet.

"I...I'm so...Sorry! I...I didn't know. I'm sorry.!" Her cheeks were extremely red and she was completely out of breath.

"Hey listen it wasn't what it looked like, well maybe it was. But there ain't no reason to cry and apologize with your head on the floorboards!" Yahiko felt his face turning red. I've never seen someone get so emotional over walking in on someone.

"Huh?" She looked confused. Then Yahiko knew she'd noticed the bright red waitress standing next to the Tokyo samurai. Sometimes he wondered if Kaoru was slightly imbalanced. She stopped crying and blinked back and forth between the two.

"Ummm...You were apologizing for something else...weren't you?" Kaoru, although still breathless and unhappy looking, peered at him more owlishly.

"Pardon me." The waitress moved faster than Kenshin, and she seemed to share a resemblance to a cherry. Yahiko wished that he could run out too but he didn't think it would be that easy.

"I just ruined something...didn't I, Yahiko-chan?" Kaoru looked up at him from the floor with red rimmed eyes and he couldn't be mad.

"Only a little. Don't call me chan ugly! I thought you were supposed to be teaching today...Why were you apologizing?" Immediately Yahiko saw a deep sorrow cross Kaoru's face and a tear threatened to slide down her cheek. Jeez, what's with these girls today?

"I'm s-s-sorry. For leaving you alone." Kaoru curled up into a ball on the floor and her face was probably touching her knees.

Yahiko's mouth went dry. He didn't want to talk about this. Not now, not yet, and if he could help it, not ever like this, certainly not alone with Kaoru. "I told Kenshin he wasn't allowed to apologize this morning. He left on his own. You didn't have any choice. Enishi took you. I can't believe that you would think I'd hold you responsible for...what happened." Yahiko stopped and realized that he'd just said something that might lead to a lot more discussion. Don't ask questions...please. You don't know Kenshin left yet, and I didn't just tell you.

"But I left you alone. I left when you needed me most." Yahiko watched her shake her head. Kaoru must not have noticed.He had to end the conversation before he let more information leak out.

"Shouldn't you be over this? It's been weeks." Yahiko tried to walk toward the back door but Kaoru had caught his hakama and she was crying freely.

"But I died!" She cried out, and Yahiko was suddenly shocked. He turned around and looked down at Kaoru in horror. Did Kenshin? No, he told me that he'd talk to her later...he said we would all talk about this together.Kaoru shuddered and clutched his hakama as she looked back at the floor. "I died..."

"Kaoru...I'm sorry. I didn't...Don't."

"I'll never leave you again. I'll never let you down. No wonder you hate me! I knew you were avoiding me, but I figured that it was just that you were thinking about what might have happened. I didn't know you were thinking about what had already happened. Please don't be angry..."

"Of course I'm angry!" Yahiko sat down and looked Kaoru in the eyes. "I was so angry when I saw your body going into the ground. I thought that you'd been weak. Then I thought that you let Enishi kill you and I hated you more because Kenshin fell apart and you weren't there." He watched as his teacher became further upset by his words but something was propelling him forward, and he was compelled to speak. "Then I thought about it for a while and there was no way that Enishi could have killed you so quickly. Even if he did fight dirty. You're my teacher and there was no way you'd have gone down in one hit, but the only mark on you was that giant wattou through your chest, and the crossed scar on your cheek."

Kaoru took a great gulp of air and jumped off of the ground and ran out the back door. "Kaoru!" He ran after her and saw that she hadn't gone far. She was vomiting over the side of the building and Yahiko hoped that nobody could hear her in the restaurant. "Don't do that here...it's bad for business." He dropped down next to her and hugged her shoulders.

Kaoru looked at Yahiko and he felt awful. "I have to know the rest. Tell me."

Yahiko shook his head. "Promise not to puke again and I will." She nodded her head. "Everyone left me alone. Sano ran off. Kenshin was in some living hell. I couldn't believe it though; I couldn't believe that you could be gone forever even if they were. We buried you and I remember that day I sat at your shrine and I just glared, because it wasn't you. It couldn't be." Kaoru was shaking slightly, or maybe he was. "Misao and Aoshi came, just to visit, but when they got here they helped me. Misao believed me right away, then Aoshi remembered this old ninja trick with these...puppets. He dug you up and he knew right away that it wasn't you. I believed him because the chance of finding you alive was better than not." Yahiko hid his face from her as he said this, because in truth he was ashamed that it had even gotten that far. "There's a lot to tell...I don't think this is the right place to do it. Everyone should be here. It's Kenshin's story too." Yahiko felt a tear slide down his own face as his "sister" held onto him and cried. "I never gave up. I never gave up on the dojo, or you, or Kenshin. Things kept getting worse, and then there was no one left to protect everyone but me. I mean, there was Aoshi and Misao...but they were out a lot looking for evidence to prove you weren't dead...Or at least to find Enishi since we had to have revenge if we couldn't have you back. Then there was this guy blowing holes in all the buildings down here...I was really afraid when I fought that guy."

"What guy?" Kaoru was startled out of her listening and stared at Yahiko.

"Oh, there was this psycho guy with a cannon for an arm and he blew up the Akabeko and someone had to stop him. So I did. Well, Kenshin stopped him, but I held him off until he got there. Kenshin wasn't really in any condition to fight anyone so it was a good thing that I was able to kick him around for a while." Yahiko said this with a bit of pride and then continued his story. "When I started to fight him I was scared because I knew that if I died...I would never see you again." He looked down and felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment. "Of course I believed in Kenshin, but I thought that he might not get out of his funk in time to save me. I was just positive that now that I knew you were alive you would hate me if I didn't live to see you again and get you back." The Tokyo Samurai glanced up at Kaoru with an askance look.

"I could never hate you Yahiko, never. I get mad but it's not the same thing. I would be really mad for a long time if anything ever happened to you. I bet I would feel like you did. But I'm going to make a promise now that I will spend the rest of my life trying to keep..." Yahiko started a bit when Kaoru took his hands. "You are more to me than just a student Yahiko. You, Kenshin, Sano, Tae, even Megumi and the Oniwabanshu that live so far away now, you are more than friends to me...you're family." Here Yahiko nodded because he couldn't help but agree that yes, they were their own small family. "You and Kenshin most because we all live under the same roof like family should. I promise Yahiko, to you especially that I will always be there when you need me. Five hundred years from now if you need me in the afterlife I will always come. Believe in me, Yahiko." Yahiko tried not to concentrate on the hope welling up inside of him at the words Kaoru spoke, but then he remembered what Kenshin had said.

"Kaoru..." Yahiko looked into her eyes and she had a fierce determination in them. "Kaoru...You can't keep that promise. Anything can happen. I don't expect you to..."

"Shhh. Just let me try." She was on her feet again and she looked down. "I am going home to sort out this nonsense. I can't stay here...I can't go to my lesson, I feel bad. I'm going to just spend the day in and see what I can still make sense out of." She turned to leave and Yahiko watched her slow measured steps and thought that it looked as if a great weight had landed on her shoulders. Suddenly she turned, "Yahiko...what happened to...?"

"Kenshin? Uh-uh. That's his story and I don't understand it enough myself to tell you, and it wouldn't be right to tell you because he can explain stuff that I can't. Besides, I'm still a little pissed." Yahiko shrugged his shoulders as he said this one rather matter of fact thing.

"Are you really still angry? Do you hate me?" Kaoru looked worried to find out the answer.

"Yeah, but just because you're my ugly teacher. I just don't want to talk about this again today. Tell Kenshin we can talk again some other day." He paused and took a deep breath, and said as quickly as he could, "It hurts a lot to talk about it. Don't blame yourself. I can't help it." He waved his hand dismissivly.

Now, get out of here and deal with "stuff."She turned to leave and as she started to walk again Yahiko mumbled. "I was only alone on the outside, you were with me the whole time. So was Kenshin. You're my family...and I need you." He mumbled the last words as quietly as possible, but Kaoru had stopped walking again when he said the last part. Yahiko on the other hand couldn't believe he was saying these things, and despite being flushed from embarrassment, he continued. "If I ever suffered it was because I thought that living without you was the worst thing I could face. The world needs at least one ugly tanooki with a bokken to remind us that things could be worse." Kaoru seemed to consider the intent of the words for a second before deciding they weren't terribly offensive. "Before you and Kenshin, I was really alone. I guess looking back into that was a bit of a shock."

"The dojo is your home Yahiko, with or without me in it. It's yours. I want you to know that." She looked intently at her student and he looked back for the first time in months with a kind of certainty that he'd lost.

"Kaoru...I knew that already, but it just wasn't home without you there. So try not to get killed again." He felt a horrible lump in his throat that seemed to stick even the air. He closed his eyes and looked down hoping that she wouldn't see the shine his eyes had taken on since they filled with unwanted tears. He was surprised when warm arms closed around him and gently held him there.

"Even so, I'm very proud of you, and I would like you to think of our house as your home. Don't ever change Yahiko. You're proud and talented, and even if you are an annoying student you make an excellent brother. I'll see you later." She kissed him on the head and he felt his face blaze. Kaoru slid the door closed and he slumped off toward the well splashing his face with water before slowly going back toward the kitchen. He didn't want anyone to know he'd been crying no matter what the circumstances might have been. This is the second time I've cried today. I must be seriously pussing out, I'm crying like a girl. Oh well...At least now I'm not bored. Hey...I got kissed twice too...weird. I have a strange feeling that Kenshin is going to have a lot to talk about...Oh, he's definitely not ready to talk about this with a hysterical Kaoru. I'd better tell him about it before he gets in over his head.

Yahiko walked back inside and began to scrub the dishes. I don't know what to think anymore. Sure I'm upset over this whole situation but Kenshin already said he was sorry. Even though he was doing an excellent job of avoiding me for a while there. Kaoru didn't know what was going on and I just took it for granted that everything would sort itself out. Now that it's done that I feel like I've done something wrong by waiting all this time and not saying anything. She was looking terrible when she ran in here. She never said one word about what we've done by not telling her about the dead Kaoru. She's busy blaming herself for hurting me... I never wanted her to feel guilty. I've just been kinda depressed for a while. I want to talk to her but at the same time I wish we could go back before any of this happened and just not let Enishi take us by surprise. We can all go around in circles blaming each other forever or we can get over it. I feel like I'm still getting over all of the shock and it's been weeks. I guess that was heartless of me, to sit around and mope while everyone else needed to hear the things I'm hearing from them. Kenshin needed me to say that I wasn't upset with him. Kaoru needed to know that I missed her and that things were messed up when she wasn't there. We've all been dumb...but that's what family is like I guess. It'll be okay after everything calms down again.

Yahiko walked out into the restaurant. "You there...can I order?" Yahiko looked around and the restaurant was completely full. No wonder there were so many dishes.

"Sure thing. What can I get for you?" The guy was surly looking and he had a bit of a scar running from his temple all the way down his face. It wasn't that Yahiko often paid attention to the customers, but this guy had every hair on the back of his neck standing up. The man gave his order and Yahiko took a few more tables before he walked into the back to fill it. That was strange. Something about that guy was a little off. Maybe I'm just edgy because Kaoru freaked out on me.Yahiko promised himself to calm down.

It was five minutes before one when Kenshin and Hiko walked into the Akabeko and Yahiko had been hard at work for the last three hours since Kaoru's departure. Tsubame needn't have worried, business had almost tripled by noon, and Yahiko had heard Tae say that they were understaffed. Yahiko had almost thought to take Tsubame's worries seriously as it stood to reason that someone would think that the place was bad luck after it got blown up, but it seemed to have almost gone the opposite direction. People were flocking to the Akabeko to see the "lovely new building" and try the excellent food they'd heard so much about. Tae was a marketing genius... Yahiko watched Kenshin and Hiko look for a seat and he walked over immediately afterward. "Kenshin!" He walked over to the men and tried for a less dark expression.

"Yahiko. What? Has something happened?" Obviously he failed. The young swordsman bowed to Hiko before dragging the Rurouni back toward the kitchen. "Orooooo..."

"Pardon us Hiko-san!" He got to the doorway and finally let go of Kenshin's ponytail, "Look. I don't want you to worry or just run out of here before I can finish so I'm asking you to remain calm now so later doesn't happen, right?"

"I promise to respond accordingly...Yahiko. What's happened?"

"Kaoru found out everything about what happened without us telling her. I guess that Maekawa-sensee was talking to her and he just let it out. I know we weren't keeping it from her on purpose, but if I were Kaoru I think I'd probably be feeling a lot of strange stuff. She was feeling bad so she went home to have "time to herself" whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. I just figured that "time by herself" didn't dis-include you specifically." Yahiko scratched the back of his head and shrugged.

Kenshin was starring off past Yahiko to some unfathomable point. "This is not how I would have her learn the events of the recent past. How much did she hear?"

Yahiko shook his head. "I can't be sure. She knows that we buried what we thought was Kaoru, and I just told her a bunch of stuff about the puppet. I think she's going to need to talk to you though. I'm sorry Kenshin."

"Don't worry Yahiko. We should have talked to her before now, but there is nothing we can do about it. There should be a way to fix this situation before it gets out of hand. In the mean time I would ask that you do me a favor."

"I don't get out of the Akabeko till two today but anything after that is great. They are having a really busy day and I don't want to let Tae down." Yahiko wanted Kenshin to see that he was being responsible with his job so that he would trust him with this errand. Please let him ask me to take Hiko to the rest of the places today. Please let him ask me to take Hiko to the rest of the places today. Please...

"I need to get home and talk with Kaoru. Can you take Hiko...well...wherever the hell he needs to go." Kenshin was obviously flustered since he was cursing.

YES! WOOOHOOOO!Yahiko felt himself buzz with excitement. "Sure Kenshin, no problem."

"I'll go tell shisho about our arrangement. Thank you, Yahiko. I officially owe you a favor now." Kenshin smiled his Rurouni grin and walked toward the door. I bet he's scowling now...Yahiko walked back toward the stack of dishes and shuddered. I better be finished by two...I can't wait to talk with Hiko by myself.

Kenshin walked out of the door to the kitchen and tried to get his face twisted into something a bit more friendly but the day had been awful. Waking up to a face full of freezing well water was fine compared to the rest of the day. Everything that was happening now was complicated. She wasn't dead...so where was Akari? Did Akari's disappearance, and the men following Hiko have anything to do with one another or were they separate affairs? Why did they disappear earlier? Where did they go? Who would want to kidnap Akari...she wasn't the type to go quietly. Is it possible that we've missed something obvious?It was important that they gather all of the facts they could before the trail got any colder. Things were awful enough now that they were so far behind her captors. Why did Gein build a puppet for someone who had nothing to do with Enishi? I can't exactly ask him now. I'll have to thank Aoshi again by asking for his help. Things spiraled out of control long ago in this situation with Gein. But, it all feels connected, I have that feeling._._ All I can do now is play damage control in my own life where things seem destined to be turbulent. I'm sorry Akari-dono, but I need to finish one thing before I start another.

He was running through the streets and was about to turn when he heard a man cry out. "Death of woman is attributed to the Blue Water Stone! Government denies accusations! Emporor's, doctor's wife is found dead alongside her husband! " Kenshin stopped dead and ran back toward the man.

"Please...may I?" The man took a long suffering look at Kenshin's sword and gave him the paper.

"BLUE WATER STONE KILLS TWO MORE IN UNUSUAL TWIST!"

Kenshin shook his head. "If they weren't related before...they are now. But they could still be coincidences. I don't believe in cursed rocks either." The redhead who had been headed home turned and ran in the direction of the Ruffian Row houses. Katsu...I need your help. I'm sorry Kaoru. I'll be back, and when I do, we'll talk about all of the things that we've been putting aside...all of them.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I like money. I don't have any though. And I just took a whole lot of time to write this!!!! Okay, it wasn't that bad really, but I had a terrible time with writing Akari's mom and am rather glad she kacked _I think it's "cacked"actually _it there in the last scene. I kept on having to go back and rewrite it so that it would be satisfactory. Now I figure I have to rewrite at least half of chapter four to make everything congruous. Thanks for hanging around. Read and review! You lovely people you.


	4. Chapter 4: Things Fly Apart

This chapter actually just wrote itself. I swear to god. It was the easiest chapter that I've written since chapter one. Giving Yahiko a voice always makes me smile, and writing action makes my fingers fly like little birds. Seriously. Anyway, this one is full of a real fight. No simple duel for this chapter. Nope this is a knock down drag out fight, and that means that I'm going to start to earn my rating. Not too much though because the character pulls out of the fight...whoever they may be. WinkI hope you like it. Hummm...by the way...I don't own Kenshin. Sad. True. I'll write a haiku. But not this time.

"The Long Road Home"

A "Rurouni Kenshin" fanfiction

Chapter: 4

Things Fly Apart

By: Ranma151773012

"So, let me get this straight...Kenshin is afraid of my ugly teacher?" Yahiko blinked at the cloaked man as they walked through the gates to the Kamiya Dojo with what Yahiko considered to be a sizable amount of sake. Hiko had decided that they would put off the rest of the places he had to visit and instead they went to a sake shop in town and bought everything that they could carry. It looked as if they were planning a party.

"Yes, and no. Kenshin's always been a real human conflict. He's the simplest individual I've ever met. It's why I taught him Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu in the first place. On the other hand he's very complex. Too much so for his own good. He likes to overanalyze things." Yahiko listened to the older man but felt his lack of understanding start to show on his face, so he decided to make it even more clear by squinting at Hiko's revelation. He caught the hint. "Okay, I'll be more plain. Kenshin is a simpleton who thinks too much."

Yahiko got indignant. "Kenshin isn't stupid!" They reached the storeroom and began to unload the jugs of sake as well as the other supplies. "He's brave, and quick, and he can think his way out of anything. Kenshin has talked his way out of a lot of fighting just using his mind."

"I guess he can, but it took him two years and a dead woman to even realize that he was being foolish during the revolution. Two years is a long time to take to realize that you have a choice. That's an awfully important lesson with an awfully steep price. He waded in a sea of blood, all of his own making, for the sake of his ideals but didn't stop to think of what those ideals should include." Yahiko was angry and interested all at the same time. He had never heard Hiko talk about Kenshin before beyond the odd insult. The idea that this man had been there far before any one of them had even known Kenshin himself was beginning to intrigue him. I wonder if it isn't that Kenshin's "stupid", but that Hiko is just really critical.the Tokyo Samurai couldn't help but wonder to himself.

Yahiko hadn't gotten to know Hiko very well when they'd met him in Kyoto. Sure he learned that Hiko was an awesome fighter right away, but their conversation was taking them further than that. The two other times they had met, Kaoru's only student had gotten the distinct feeling that Hiko had an ego bigger than the mountain he lived on and that he was a bit of a perfectionist. Yahiko looked up and Hiko had a very far off look on his face. "I'm very proud of him." The boy whipped his head around and stared blatantly at the master of his idol. "Don't tell him I said that. He won't try as hard to please me." An eyebrow went up into Yahiko's hair at that comment. "I was afraid when he left for the war that he would use Hiten Mitsurugi to misbalance the scales between the two sides and that is the deepest truth; the one that I told Kenshin that morning in the snow before he left. However it was my own underlying doubt, and even my worry, that dominated my thoughts back then. The idea that Kenshin would go out there into the maw of the world and it would swallow him whole was the only thought that I got up in the morning and went to bed at night with. I followed him very closely, although he doesn't know it. He didn't know a lot of things back then. I had him watched. Followed. It didn't help my psyche at all when he became a hitokiri, and it became worse as the lists of names began to come in. I have them all in my head...and I am certain that I did not learn them all because my friends could not be everywhere. It worried me then, and it worries me still because if I have learned their names Kenshin has learned their faces. He's that type of man." Yahiko tried to swallow past the lump in his throat and shuddered slightly thinking about everything Kenshin had endured. Since the supplies were now up Yahiko decided that he should call after the other occupants of the dojo.

"Kenshin!!!! Kaoru!!!!" Yahiko walked toward his room that he shared with Kaoru and found her curled up and sleeping.

"I don't think Kenshin has been here yet." Hiko looked around the dojo and frowned. "Perhaps he was distracted? I think we should therefore leave and come back later ourselves." Hiko wandered back into the storeroom and the Tokyo Samurai followed him.

Stillness passed between them until Hiko grabbed a fishing pole and a small folding chair and indicated that Yahiko should follow. "You see, Kenshin has always done everything with his whole heart. He became my student and he did it with his whole heart. He believed in the revolution...and he did it with his whole heart. I didn't want to see him embrace the heart of a killer, because I knew Kenshin, and he's always been quiet and gentle, two things that a killer can't afford to be. So I thought that once all of this was begun I would lose Kenshin beyond reaching. He was always a meticulous student. He had skill and ability, and he's very talented. What he lacks in strength and size he always made up for with speed and intelligence. Kenshin is a better fighter than I am." Yahiko gaped.

"Hiko-san. You always seemed to be the better swordsman when I saw you fight this morning. You're always tagging Kenshin before he tags you right?"

"That's because he lacks confidence. He sees me as the Master of his school and the man who has taught him since he was a boy. He expects me to win, and so I do. Besides, his arm is in terrible condition from his fight with that psychotic brother-in-law of his. I advise you to look very closely at Kenshin's life and be aware of the repercussions of your own actions every time you make a decision. If Kenshin decided it was a good idea...it probably isn't. I'm proud of him, but I still think he's an absolute moron."

"I don't get it." Yahiko said as they finally reached the bank of the river and sat down.

"You go fishing, you catch fish, you eat fish, you drink sake." He smiled benignly; obviously more amused with his joke than Yahiko.

"No. I mean, I don't get you, or Kenshin." He cast his own line into the river. "You always call him names and act all mean to him but here you are saying you're proud of him. It sounds like...what did you call it? A human conflict?" Yahiko tried to sneak a look over at Hiko but the man was already looking at him so he turned his whole head.

"Do you hate Kaoru?"

"WHAT?"

"Do you hate Kaoru?"

"No! I lo ...really like Kaoru. She's been like a sister. She's a great teacher." Was he going to start talking about Kaoru now? Kenshin is one thing but Kaoru is mine to make fun of.

"So even though you say mean things and are disrespectful you still care?" Yahiko nodded. "It is how you communicate. Kenshin and I are able to function better, when we aren't sparring physically that is, when we play our roles. You and Kenshin aren't so different." Yahiko puffed up at this. "That wasn't a compliment." Yahiko deflated and then got immediately indignant.

"I'll take it as one anyway!" It took Yahiko a few seconds before he realized who he was talking to and became immediately sheepish.

"See! Kenshin takes everything personally too." Hiko recast his line. "Then, after he tells you, he feels all sorry for what he felt, as if it's wrong to feel things and let people know. Now I admit there is a time and place for everything but that is something you learn. Kenshin will continue to get better at that as he gets older.

Oh, I get it! He did that to get that reaction and I did exactly what Kenshin would? But Kenshin is always so...servant-ish. He's never obstinate or rude. No, that's not right. I've seen him be kind of mocking when he doesn't think his opponents will notice. Always polite...but not. And just recently watching Kenshin and Hiko spar this morning it might be easier to believe that Kenshin does, in fact, have a "disrespectful" side.The realization must have been on his face rather plainly because Hiko nodded.

"He respects me, but he says rude things and is disrespectful and he can be quite emotional with me, which I'm told is very unusual for Kenshin." Hiko began to tug his fishing pole and a flopping shimmering fish sailed into the open air on the other end of the line. The master of Hiten Mitsurugi caught it easily and placed it quickly into the basket while also re-baiting his hook.

"How did you meet?" Yahiko felt braver speaking to Hiko now, at least braver than he had been.

"Kenshin, or shall I say Shinta..." Shinta?"was in over his head as usual. I pulled his ass out of the fire...as usual." Shinta?

"Wait. I'm still stuck on Shinta..." Yahiko had dropped his fishing pole and was staring at the man in the mantle like he'd grown an extra head.

"Yes, I re-named Kenshin when he became my pupil as all students are re-named in the Hiten Mitsurugi school...However his name was quite the improvement. Shinta sounds awfully wrong for a swordsman. Not very manly." Yahiko nearly started to laugh but swallowed the chuckles under a few muffled coughs and picked up the fishing rod once more.

"So, Hiko isn't your name, and is "Kenshin" just like Hiko?A student name? Is he Himura Kenshin the Thirteenth?"

"I wish..." Yahiko barely heard the mutter but laughed when he saw the man roll his eyes.

"What?"

"Nothing...Let's just say that my master had a wicked sense of humor. Which by the way is probably the best explanation that I have for my sterling people skills." Yahiko nodded and laughed but decided that he should rekindle the other thread of the conversation and leave humiliation for a later date.

"So, Shinta?" He didn't mind knowing more about Hiko, certainly the more the better considering he was Kenshin's master, however the insight into Kenshin was invaluable to the youngest member of the Kenshin-gumi.

Hiko narrowed his eyes and spoke, "Kenshin was sold into slavery after his parents died of cholera. The slavers were attacked by a group of bandits and they went on to kill everyone except Kenshin. I would never have even met the boy had I not been going for supplies that day."

"Out of sake?" Yahiko asked dryly while picking his ear with his pinkie finger.

"Completely." Yahiko couldn't lift the mood after what Hiko said though, and he nodded for the man to continue.

"I left the boy and went on my way. Three days later I went to attend to the dead and ask after the boy in the next village."

"You left him there!" He shouted. Yahiko was waving his pole in the air and gesticulating wildly. He realized that he was going to put someone's eye out and promptly stopped. "With the dead people?"

"What could I do for him?" The words were quiet and he cast his line out again. "The world is a horrible place. As a practitioner of Hiten Mitsurugi I can't be expected to wander around and fix the lives of others. As I said before...What could I do for him?" The irony of Hiko's statement was not lost on Yahiko.

"Ummm, what you actually did for him?" Yahiko rolled his eyes. "You ended up taking him in anyway."

"It is very unusual for a master to take a student as quickly as I did. You usually want to spend a bit of time...alone...after you master the art. I had spent almost a year in quiet contemplation about mortality and how fragile life is. Even though it is a part of the training to do so before you master the art, I couldn't help but have many questions to ponder while recovering from the ordeal of becoming Hiko."

"It sounds pretty boring..." Yahiko thought aloud. "I mean...well. Aoshi makes it look boring..." He found that he couldn't save the first comment. "I never really found my exercises in quiet contemplation helpful. Meditation is my least favorite part of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. I always feel like I could be learning something instead of just sitting there waiting for inspiration."

"You sound like me. I think that year I spent was making up for all of the times that I really thought about dinner or studied the cracks in the walls. I suddenly found I had a lot to think about. It was at the height of this that I met Kenshin. I walked back through the village that I had directed Kenshin to and found that they hadn't seen him. I thought the boy may have committed suicide because he lost his family and had no where to go. It sent my mind reeling thinking that one so young would decide that death was better than this world in which we live. I arrived back at the scene of the fight and realized that the killing field had become a graveyard. The boy had buried them all with his own hands by the time I'd returned. That was when he told me the truth about the slavers, the slaves, and the men that I had killed;they were all equal in his sight. He was honest and simple and he had such a spirit inside of him that I could see the dragon coiled around his soul. I knew that fate or whatever it is that governs our lives had brought my pupil. I admit that he was a little disappointing at first in that he was so depressingly small. I figured he would grow. Imagine my disappointment when he didn't. It must have been the cholera or a lack of nourishment when he was smaller. Kenshin said his parents were farmers. I don't know much about them to be honest. He didn't speak of them. When Kenshin is sad or depressed he has the annoying tendency to keep silent, even when he was eight. I bet it's worse now that he's going on twenty-eight. He has a lot more to be silent about." Yahiko couldn't help but agree with that.

"He didn't say anything about his whole past to us until this autumn. We knew who he was but nothing else. Of course...that leaves a lot more to the imagination. There are far too many stories that I think must be a bunch of ridiculous nonsense." Yahiko saw the man's eyes shoot open, but in an instant it was over and Yahiko thought he might have imagined it. Yahiko was about to comment on it when there was a tug on his own line. Another fish was added to the basket.

"Yahiko...If Kenshin doesn't marry your "sister", I will." Yahiko could hear that Hiko wasn't completely serious but that his respect for Kaoru was showing. "Not many people would follow someone halfway across Japan on blind faith. Your shihondai as well as yourself should be commended. You are a true friend Yahiko, to both my stupid pupil and your teacher. Your parents must be proud of their honorable son. I know that Kaoru-san is very proud of her student." Yahiko blushed to the roots of his hair at the praise that Hiko had given him.

"WAIT! Kaoru is proud of me?" It was Yahiko's turn to be shocked. "She said that?"

"Well, it was surrounded by a healthy amount of "sisterly love" and cursing, but yes, she is amazed by your skill." Another fish was drawn out of his watery home and Hiko got up off of the river bank. "Now that we have the proper amount of fish and I've spoken more than I even had to put up with when Kenshin was playing detective today we should probably return. Do you have a lot of blasting around here?" Yahiko noticed a muted explosion but decided that it could be just about anything.

"No..." he answered offhandedly. There is still so much I don't know. It's really strange that it feels easier to ask Hiko personal questions than Kenshin. I was hard on both Kaoru and Kenshin today. Maybe I should apologize.They were coming toward the dojo at last but Yahiko stared in mute horror as a column of smoke rose from the dojo.

"Yahhhhh!" A female voice carried over Yahiko's thoughts.

"KAORU!" Yahiko panicked when he heard her cry out. Hiko jammed everything into Yahiko's arms. "What's going on?" He yelled. Who could possibly be after Kaoru?

"Find Kenshin! Now!" Hiko began to turn back toward the dojo.

"But...we don't know...He might have returned..."

"It might be the ones who took Akari. I knew that they would come if we started asking too many questions, but I had hoped that they would target me. Aparently Kenshin is drawing too much attention to himself as usual. Go, Yahiko! Get Kenshin!" The Thirteenth Master of Hiten Mitsurugi left for the dojo at godlike speed as Yahiko ran the other way trying to match Hiko for every step. But Yahiko turned as he heard a second explosion, and his eyes traveled up the column of smoke. If he knew Kenshin as well as he thought he did...he would already be on his way if he saw that. The fish as well as both of the lines went falling to the ground as he started to run in earnest wondering how he would find Kenshin.

"Katsu!" Kenshin found him at last under a bridge watching the water and blowing on a grass reed.

"Ah! Himura-san! How are you? It's been a long time. Have you received word from Sano now that he's on vacation?" Katsu's eyebrows raised and he smiled devilishly.

"I have in fact heard from him, and he seems to be having an interesting time. Although I hope that he doesn't get himself into further trouble with his "adventurous" spirit." Katsu laughed at that and Kenshin found himself joining in.

"Sano will get into trouble whether he's here or there. I've never known him to stay quiet. I'll not waste my hopes on the idea that Sano won't get in trouble. I'm going to turn my hopes to Sano not getting himself killed." Katsu smiled and then he turned directly toward Kenshin and dropped his grass leaf as he stood. "You didn't come to me to talk about Sano though, so let's get some tea and discuss what you have really come about. I've been looking forward to another one of your little adventures."

"I would be better off if the "little adventures" would stop presenting themselves." Kenshin walked with Katsu up the bank of the little fast moving river.

"Ah, yes. But just as I don't waste my hopes on Sano not getting into trouble, I don't waste my time imagining your life will ever be quiet and wait to help where I can." Kenshin looked down at the ground with a smile on his face at Katsu's statement.

"I try."

Kaoru pulled her hair into the usual topknot and frowned into the tiny mirror on the stand of her mother's old table. I have to stop blaming myself. What Enishi did to us was horrible. Keeping me from hearing what happened is wrong...but I understand it. What would anyone benefit from reliving it? Especially Kenshin who thought I was dead.She felt a small bite in the air and closed her eyes to let herself feel it without the distraction of her eyes. She slid the hanten jacket over her shoulders and just as she had started to secure it she felt the eyes upon her. "Who's there? Yahiko...Hiko...Kenshin?" She looked around the corner of the screen into the darkening hallway. Dusk was falling and the house felt unusually sinister.

Suddenly a great blast of sound shattered the silence. The explosion was from the direction of the outer wall of the Kamiya compound. Kaoru ran the direction the sound had come from with her bokken gripped in her hand, her hanten jacket flared out behind her and her hair bobbing up and down in its ponytail. As she stepped into the dimming light and saw the smoking remains of her exterior wall a pair of large hands grabbed her from behind. "YAAAHHHHHHH" Kaoru kicked and flailed. "Let go! Now!" She switched her bokken backward with a quick swipe, and the arms fell away. A second later another explosion rocked the dojo, but this time from the area of the house and Kaoru was thrown from the porch and away from her burning building.

"Noooooo! I just had that damn building fixed!" She screamed at the sky, and she thought to punish the only person that she knew was there...and he was gone. "Come out here and fight me you cowards!" She looked around and saw no one. "Fight me!" Suddenly, a small army of men was filing out of her storage building. They were like a legion of shadows in the smoke and dust from the fire licking the dojo and the debris from the wall still floating in the air. The gathering darkness coming over the earth only making them more intimidating.

One of the shadows began to speak. "Please, Kamiya-san. I fully intended to come out and kill you, but I wanted to wait and see that all of our little signal flares went up first." Kaoru bit her tongue against the tide of uncomplimentary words struggling to leave her mouth. "Now, I'm prepared to kill you. I need to leave a sort of message to your friends, and you were chosen as a worthy target for our warning..." Kaoru only had a second to spare before the first shadow came tearing out of the mist of debris and toward her, sword flashing. He was taller than Kenshin but only by two inches or so. A long braid with a strange weight on the end swung out behind him like a banner.

"How dare you underestimate me! I'll show you what the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu is all about!" Kaoru screamed back at him and she tried not to let the anger cloud her judgment. Truth be told, he is very attractive, if not for the obvious evil personality thing.His sword swung around and she blocked it easily and he jumped back as if to gauge his opponent.

"Who are you?" The words were grated out through clenched teeth as the bokken caught his sword again. "What gives you the right to disturb my home!" It wasn't a question. She threw the man back and followed up by giving him a smart smack on his side. He tried to slide in under her arm but failed. He's weak!At the second failed attempt he sprung backward and made a motion with his hand.

"Pardon me my lady! I had no idea, we'll just go then." A few of the men in the smoke laughed. "If you can defeat all of us, I'll give you your freedom." Now there was real laughter. "A little girl wants to pretend to be a man? Where is your naginata, princess?" Kaoru felt irritation slip into her confidence.

The men were now surrounding her completely. In the light from the burning dojo they looked like demons. One of them spoke. "Are you going to dishonor your sword fighting her? Boss?"

"Her blood will be just as red. Now that she's shown herself to be proficient in the sword...Maybe you can give us all a lesson little shihondai. You have a beautiful face; my men will enjoy being taught by you." There were sniggers coming from the closing circle and Kaoru felt hope sliding from her. Just the same she settled her hips and got ready to move.

"I wouldn't. She'll embarrass you." A voice from the roof made every person in the circle and Kaoru look up.

"Hiko-san!" Kaoru gasped with relief; the odds were slowly climbing in her favor.

"Have you come to fight in her place Hiko Seijuro, Thirteenth Master of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu? I don't enjoy picking on little girls." She gnashed her teeth in indignation at this, and Kaoru felt tension build in her shoulders at each scrape of her own teeth. He knows all of us? I've never even seen him before!

"Hiko-san. Please excuse me, but he," and she pointed her bokken at the man's head, "is my opponent." The shihondai of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu stood taller and she glared. "I don't know why you're here in my dojo, but I assure you that you won't be leaving the way you came in." Her eyes met with Hiko. He looked back at her with intense eyes and mouthed something in the darkness that seemed to be "Over his head". She nodded once and settled into her defensive crouch.

"My name is Hideo. And these fine men..." she glared at Hideo. "Are the Yakuza of the mighty boss Matsuhido Roshi." Kaoru saw him roll his eyes and Kaoru narrowed her own. "Now, with that out of the way..." He charged forth and the circle began to collapse toward her with the small army of twenty or so men falling forward to kill her.

Just as everything developed into chaos two things happened. First Kaoru screamed out to Hiko, "Don't kill them." Then Hiko jumped into the circle just as Kaoru jumped over Hideo's head and hopefully out of the way of the crushing bodies.

"No, I don't think so." Hideo's voice ground out angrily and something snaked around her ankle. Suddenly a strong tug ripped her backward her hand lost its grip on her bokken and she fell back into the mass of bodies, screaming and weapon-less. She watched the sky as she fell and landed hard on her hip.

"Kaoru!" Hiko's voice sounded above the clash of his sword. She couldn't answer back yet because the wind had been knocked out of her lungs. I underestimated him. Hideo isn't weak. He was testing me...to see if I was weak...Or maybe to make sure that it was me he was after. Damn.Kaoru gasped and clutched her chest as the burning began to replace itself with air. There were too many fighters in a close space and she could use this against them. Kaoru began to lash out at the men around her she kicked solidly at one of the men's knees and it broke backward as he fell to the earth. There, turn about is fair play. If he wants to keep me in here I'll just be forced to seriously hurt his men.She was able to do minor damage to one of the men in front of her as she began to take stock of her surroundings. She had lost sight of Hideo and as she stumbled to get up the chord around her ankle pulled tight and she fell back and was being drug from the crush of bodies and swords. She looked down at her ankle and she saw that the corded braid of Hideo's hair was the rope that had bound her. This moment of discovery would have been longer, however a sword dug itself straight through her shoulder.

"IIIIIIIYYAAA!" She was still being pulled back so the sword tore through her flesh before the nameless fighter let go of the traveling object. It was stuck...It had gone straight through her shoulder and up a bit. Kaoru put her hands around the katana and pulled it from her shoulder cutting her left hand as she did so, and she sat up cutting the braid from her ankle. I have to get out of here so that Hiko can fight and I don't turn into a pin cushion.She thought as she watched the men around her. "I'm free...Hiko..." She yelled out as she stumbled from the ground half-crawling and half running away from the mass of bodies. As she stumbled to her knees away from the crush she looked up into Hideo's face.

"What's the matter little girl? Feeling less manly?" He grabbed her shoulders and his fingers dug into the fresh sword wound as he pulled her from the ground. She let out a small whimper but bit her lip against the scream that wanted to come past her lips. "I personally don't care much for swords. I've always been more of a Kusari-gama type of guy. There is more sport in a ranged weapon." Kaoru stood on her own power as he put the long scythe and chain weapon under her chin. "Try to run...please...There is nothing more exhilarating than watching the chain soar through the air before the blade slices through your head like a ripe melon."

She wanted very much to vomit. She gripped the katana in her right hand and glared into Hideo's eyes. "I would rather fight you and win." Kaoru pushed the blade from under her face and jumped back away from the man in front of her.

"Very well." Hideo snarled. "Let me tell you a secret; none of this matters to me. There is something else that I want. But I'll kill you for the fun of it."

"That's nice." She avoided the strike of the weapon and ran forward, flipping the blade on the sword. It was a truly nasty looking blade, and she knew from hours of study about other weapons that she truly would be "split like a ripe melon" if he could tag her with it. The chain gleamed in the fire and she saw clearly the small scythe and the handle with which Hideo threw it, also she could see the weight on the other side of the chain in his hand. What would Kenshin do? I have to strike hard, strike fast, and not get dead. She changed directions as he brought the scythe flying in her direction and rolled quickly under the weapon as it struck the ground where she had been headed. He was good. The roll had made her arm even more painful and she bit back the curse on her lips. It was mere seconds between the moment that she had rolled and the moment that she was running again. Hideo was already bringing the kusari-gama back into his hand and she saw a smile on his lips. He believed that he had her, and maybe his moment of vanity could be turned to her advantage. She had to guess what he was predicting. The actions were simultaneous. Hideo lashed out in an arcing circle that would have certainly struck had Kaoru been on the ground. Kaoru leapt forward into the air and in two strides reached her opponent. She struck toward his shoulder angling the blade so that the flames glinted off of it, blinding him. The blunted edge struck the shoulder with all of the force that Kaoru could create and it made a crack and a sickening pop and Kaoru allowed herself a moment of triumph. It wasn't even a second before the adjutant master moved once again, removing herself from the close range of the scythe.

Darkness had descended fully now and through the chaos she head people yelling for the police and calling about the fire. No, no...nobody fall over yourselves to help out in the small WAR going on.She heard Hiko laughing and smiled as she ducked away from Hideo's chain as it returned the weapon to his hand. He put his hand up to his arm and rubbed the now useless appendage.

"So, the lady is a tiger. Sexy. I can't wait to have you more to myself." He smiled and swung the dart end of the chain in circles around him. "I would love to stay and fight with you all night, but we're attracting a crowd. This isn't finished...woman." She moved quickly away from the dart but it still crashed into her wounded left shoulder and she was thrown from her feet in pain. "I'll see you again soon. EVERYONE...OUT." Suddenly the men were running everywhere like rats on a sinking ship only they were picking up bodies as they went and before long the courtyard was bare except for Hiko who was coming quickly toward her, Kaoru herself, and the burning building. "We'll be back, Kamiya. Next time I will finish what I started with your shoulder."

"JERK! You didn't even do that!" She pulled herself into a kneeling position and dug the katana into the ground so that she could use it as a crutch to stand. "This is awful." She said lamely as she watched flames lick around the ridgepole of her father's dojo.

"Kaoru? Are you feeling all right?" Hiko walked up next to her to watch the building burn. "I think there are people on their way to put out the fire now that the thugs are gone. They didn't fight very well." A cold wind stirred the air and the building began to burn harder. "I didn't kill anyone...I hope you don't mind maiming."

"No...maiming isn't a problem...considering my dojo. I might just go out there and maim a few of them myself." Her vision was swimming in and out of focus. Oh, god. I'm going to cry.Blood was dripping into her curled fingers and she felt a warm wet that covered most of the left side of her shoulder and down onto her chest with her right hand. As she moved the hair that had fallen out of her ponytail she felt blood smear onto her face. Kaoru looked over her shoulder just as men and women began throwing water on the building. When she looked back at the burning dojo the fire was being fought by a number of people that she knew to be her neighbors...but she couldn't think straight enough to remember their names. Time was doing funny things.

"So...are you going to pass out now?" Hiko looked at her with concern. No, my vision is all fuzzy...I'm going to cry.

"Huh? Oh, yeah...My shoulder? It's nothing." She saw the world getting unfocused and darkness filled the edges of her vision despite the fire licking every side. "I think I might cry though..." she felt her legs giving out and darkness enveloped her vision and she said no more.

"Kenshin! Kenshin!" Yahiko wandered all over the market trying to find the ex-wandering samurai. "Where the hell are you?" He darted in and out of the crowds as the darkness continued to swallow the last of the daylight. "KENSHIN!" He was getting farther and farther from the dojo. It was where he wanted to be. He knew that Kaoru and Hiko were skilled fighters but he wanted to help. He saw the Akabeko come into view and he ran immediately into the building.

"Tae! Have you seen Kenshin?" He looked around at the people in the building, but the flame-haired swordsman was nowhere in sight. "Someone is burning down our dojo."

Tsubame dropped her teapot and turned around. "Yahiko-kun? Someone is burning down your house? Why are you here?"

"No. It's not just burning down...somebody is blowing it up!" He waved his hands in the air and turned around to face Tae.

"OH! No, I haven't seen him. Come on everyone. Let's go! Tsubame stay here until everyone leaves and then come join us." Tae started pushing a few people out the door and handed the key to Tsubame. "We're closed until the Kamiya Dojo is safe." Tsubame started ushering people out the door and a small army of firefighters headed in the direction of the dojo as Yahiko continued his search.

"Thanks everyone..." Yahiko called out as he ran down the street. "KENSHIN!!!" He watched the darkness fall and as the shop owners pulled out lanterns for the late night the day shops pulled their signs down. I want to go home...Kaoru could be hurt or dead. Again. I can't live through this twice. I don't want to. Maybe I can just go back. Maybe Kenshin is already there. Kaoru...don't die.Yahiko started to turn back in the direction of the dojo, and on the hill he could make out a glow from what he could only assume was the burning of one of the buildings he lived in. He thought of the tombstone and the mini-shrine for the girl who had taken him in and taught him to be strong, the one that Enishi had taken from him once before and ran faster. I'm going to run till the bridge and then I'm going to turn around. I have to get back. I can't just wander around Tokyo until I find Kenshin while my home burns to the ground.

Each step was bringing him to the rougher side of town. The ruffian row houses slipped by and finally Yahiko stopped. I can't think of anywhere else he could be. Hiko and Kenshin may have been wandering all over Tokyo this morning for all I know, what if Kenshin is with someone I don't know. He might not even be in town.He turned back toward the dojo and screamed. "KENNNNNNNSHIN!!!!!" His head dropped hopelessly as a few of the doors opened and people peeked out to see what was going on. The door next to him snapped open and Yahiko stared directly into Kenshin's purple eyes. He had a cup of tea in his hand and Sano's friend Katsu was standing behind him.

"Kenshin! Come on! Somebody blew up the dojo."

Kenshin's world lurched like he'd been hit. "What?"

"Hiko and I were fishing at the river and there were two explosions and some screaming. I don't know what happened yet because Hiko sent me to find you. Don't wait up on my account. RUN!" Yahiko was already yelling because Kenshin had begun running at the word explosions, only stopping when he heard the word screaming, but just long enough to confirm that he'd heard the word explosion. The teacup lay broken in the street.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Hate me Battousai!!!!" Um, yeah. Good spot for a cliffie. We already know that Kaoru is stabbed and bleeding...but Kenshin doesn't know anything except that his life is falling apart............AGAIN, and Yahiko, poor kid, wants to get home yesterday. Ah, yes. I bet you're all wondering where this is headed. Me too. Just kidding. This is one of the few stories that I really do have mapped out completely to the end. My Ranma story is more of a "This is an element that I want here," kind of story...whereas this story is more of a "And now this is where Kenshin drops the soap in the washtub causing a tornado in Texas." Ah, I love holistic detective work. On the bright side I have been feeding a steady stream of these chapters to my beta, who will be especially happy with me for writing this since she feels I've been indigent in my writings. Wheeeeee! You know it's bad when someone who lives in Japan tells you that you're behind...Wait...A ha! See Calger-chan. I'm not behind. You're just ahead. (Jessica doesn't live in Japan any more...It took a while to do all of this.)


End file.
